Stubborn gesture

Bitcoin as of Friday at 8:12 a.m. (EST) had gained 1.4% in 24 hours to reach close to $103,700. Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, notched a 2.7% return. At roughly $2,600, ETH has slipped somewhat relative to earlier in the week. Still, it's up a head-turning 65% since mid-April.

Just in the past day or so, a major exchange revealed it got hacked and an-almost-resolved regulatory dispute bogged down while U.S.-China trade tensions continued to simmer — and still the digital realm refuses to subscribe to the old content creator's adage that "less is more." 

Case in point: Story, a blockchain connected with the management and monetization of intellectual property, saw its IP token increase 12% since yesterday at this time. IP remains down 31% relative to its all-time high above $7 reached this past February. We'll leave it there.

A jointly proposed deal between the SEC and Ripple to finally end their four-year legal battle was scuttled by a federal judge who cited procedural errors. XRP, the coin connected with Ripple, fell 2.3% to $2.43. XRP is the fourth-largest digital asset with, per CoinGecko, a market capitalization of $142B. It's spot price has sunk to as low as $2.37 during the past 24 hours.

This case stretches back to December of 2020. That's when the federal regulator filed a civil lawsuit against the ledger technology company for allegedly offering XRP to the public as an unregistered security. In July 2023, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that one form of sales (to institutional buyers) did violate securities laws; but, at the same time, the judge ruled that another form of sales (to retail buyers via exchanges) did not run afoul of the law, thus allowing for each side to claim a partial win.

Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the SEC profoundly has curbed its enthusiasm for crypto enforcement. Numerous probes have halted. Last week, the agency confirmed a deal in which Ripple will pay a fine of $50M, reduced from $125M.

“Nothing in today’s order changes Ripple’s wins,” pointed out Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's chief legal eagle, following the Judge’s order. “Ripple and the SEC are fully in agreement to resolve this case." (Decrypt)

Just days before its landmark inclusion in the S&P 500 index, Coinbase revealed via a filing yesterday that a cyberattack earlier this month resulted in the breach of customer account data. 

Bloomberg, citing a source, reports that the hackers have had access to the data going back to the start of the year.

If any customers were tricked into mistakenly sending funds, Coinbase insists, they'll be reimbursed. The episode ultimately could cost the exchange as much as $400M, it said.

"On the long list of crypto companies that have been hacked, there are plenty of examples of financial losses that are much more painful than what Coinbase appears to be facing from the attack," Bloomberg said. "Yet this one stands out for significance. This time, the victim was arguably the most influential U.S. company in the industry."

In a bluntly aggressive scheme, cybercriminals bribed customer representatives to steal sensitive client data — names, dates of birth, addresses, nationalities, government-issued ID numbers, banking information like balances, even details about when accounts were created — then the culprits demanded a $20M ransom to delete it, Bloomberg said.

“It’s a major breach,” said Mike Dudas, managing partner of 6MV, a Web3 firm, and who told Bloomberg that he was targeted by the Coinbase hackers. "The amount of personal information shared is staggering," he added.