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Europe’s first bitcoin ETF is set to launch later this month, listed as BCOIN on Euronext Amsterdam.

Jacobi Asset Management postponed a 2022 launch of the bitcoin ETF, citing last year’s Terra Luna and FTX collapses as the reason for the delay. The firm said it is now on track to launch later in July, as “demand has shifted.”

Jacobi first gained approval for the ETF from the Guernsey financial regulator in October 2021.

Jacobi CEO Jamie Khurshid stressed that every other European digital asset exchange traded product is structured as an exchange traded note that offers ownership of a debt security on the asset, and not the underlying asset itself.

“This will be the first Bitcoin ETF on Euronext,” Jacobi said on its website. “All other currently existing products on our segment are exchange-traded notes. With our ETF, fund investors directly acquire and own the units of the fund that owns the bitcoin.”

“Until now, Europe has only seen exchange-traded products with various forms of debt and complex structures that do not provide transparency for investors to make informed decisions about the debt and risk exposure they are taking on,” said Euronext CEO Stephane Boujnah.

Risk exposure for institutional investors

Referring to its ETF, Jacobi said “there is no chance of an investment leading to any form of exposure to risky borrowers, yield platforms or Defi protocols.” According to The Financial Times, Jacobi co-founder of Peter Lane said the ETF cannot be used as leverage or for derivatives, leading to “significant counterparty risk.” 

Jacobi Asset Management said the digital assets underlying the ETF will be independently audited and held in custody at Fidelity Digital Assets on behalf of the fund.

“This is why we now believe the institutions can finally come and adopt digital assets as part of their diversified portfolio,” the fund added.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

A contentious lawsuit between the Securities and Exchange Commission will go to trial after a federal judge declined to conclusively resolve the matter. 

Southern District Court of New York Judge Analisa Torres’s decision marks a continuation in a years long dispute between Ripple and the SEC.  

At the heart of that dispute is whether the company’s native XRP token is an unregistered security, and the sale of it, which has banked the company billions, is unlawful. The agency accused Ripple in 2020 of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP and also sued CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Christian Larsen. XRP is the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a total market value of over $27 billion.

Torres partially granted summary judgment motions from both sides, leaving the case open until a jury can weigh in at trial or a settlement is reached. 

“For the foregoing reasons, the SEC’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to the Institutional Sales, and otherwise DENIED,” the judge ordered on Thursday. “Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to the Programmatic Sales, the Other Distributions, and Larsen’s and Garlinghouse’s sales, and DENIED as to the Institutional Sales.”

The judge will set a trial date in a separate order. 

“We said in Dec 2020 that we were on the right side of the law, and will be on the right side of history,” Garlinghouse wrote in a tweet. “Thankful to everyone who helped us get to today’s decision – one that is for all crypto innovation in the US. More to come.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Ripple Lab’s XRP token rose as much as 28% on Thursday after a judge issued a ruling in an ongoing lawsuit, according to CoinGecko.

A motion from the Securities and Exchange Commission was granted in part, and denied in part. A motion from Ripple was also granted in part, and denied in part.

The case will move to trial, according to the filing. Where summary judgement was denied, those issues will be raised at trial.

“Having considered the economic reality and totality of circumstances surrounding the Institutional Sales, the Court concludes that Ripple’s Institutional Sales of XRP constituted the unregistered offer and sale of investment contracts in violation of Section 5 of the
Securities Act,” the ruling states.

“Having considered the economic reality and totality of circumstances, the Court concludes that Ripple’s Programmatic Sales of XRP did not constitute the offer and sale of investment contracts,” the ruling continues. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The Layer 2 network Base, backed by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has released a mainnet for developers ahead of a public launch, slated for early August.

The developer mainnet, which allows applications to be deployed on Base, comes after the introduction of a testnet version in February.

Base, built on Optimism’s software stack known as the OP Stack, functions as a rollup network. It is a secondary layer that performs off-chain computations with the goal of facilitating faster and cheaper transactions, while maintaining the security advantages of the Ethereum mainnet. 

As part of the preparatory process for the mainnet launch, the Base core team carried out comprehensive internal and external security audits to bolster the network’s safety as well as that of the Optimism Protocol Stack (OP Stack). These reviews involved Coinbase protocol experts and over 100 external security researchers, the team noted in a statement.

Several tools for developers are now live on the Base mainnet. These include node providers Blockdaemon, QuickNode, and Blast, the Safe Wallet, block explorers Etherscan and Blockscout, and data indexers The Graph and Covalent, according to the team.

The team clarified that, as previously stated, there are no plans to issue a native token for Base. The official public launch of the Base mainnet is expected in August. The Base team previously reported its testnet has drawn interest from over a million wallet addresses deploying on the network.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Bluechip, a non-profit dedicated to evaluating stablecoin safety, unveiled its rating platform that aims to provide transparent and unbiased evaluations of the most popular stablecoins in the crypto market.

The ratings are provided at no cost, allowing anyone to assess the safety of stablecoins regardless of their technical expertise, Bluechip said in a statement. 

Bluechip’s Chief Economist, Garett Jones, said there was a need for a simple tool and a clear grading system that allows users to make informed decisions when choosing stablecoins after a volatile year for the crypto industry. 

“Last year’s Terra/Luna collapse demonstrated that many people who were using stablecoins were unaware of risks that were obvious to many experts. People who want a safe, legal and easy way to make and receive payments, but aren’t experts on monetary economics, need a simple tool and a clear grading system so they can decide which stablecoins to use,” Jones said. 

“Stablecoins offer a way to potentially reduce the risks of inflation and even hyperinflation, but users need better information about which coins are more reliable,” he added.

How the ratings work

Bluechip launches with ratings for 15 stablecoins and gold-pegged tokens initially: Binance USD (BUSD), Liquidity USD (LUSD), Pax Gold (PAXG), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Pax Dollar (USDP), USD Coin (USDC), XSGD, Dai (DAI), Rai Reflex Index (RAI), Frax (FRAX), Tether Gold (XAUT), Tether (USDT), Euro Tether (EURT), TrueUSD (TUSD) and USDD. The platform plans to expand its list of rated stablecoins over time.

Of the initial list, no stablecoin has achieved Bluechip’s top rating of “A+,” according to a screenshot of the new platform shared with The Block ahead of the launch. BUSD, LUSD, PAXG and GUSD achieved the highest rating, each given an “A” grade. USDD came last, with Bluechip grading it an “F.”

The stablecoins are rated based on Bluechip’s SMIDGE rating framework: Stability, Management, Implementation, Decentralization, Governance and Externals.

The stability of a stablecoin is evaluated based on how well it has and is likely to continue maintaining its peg. Management assesses the competence and trustworthiness of the stablecoin project’s team. Decentralization examines the concentration of control. Governance looks at the measures in place to protect users from bad actors. Finally, Externals focuses on third-party indicators that might offer additional insights into stablecoin risks.

Bluechip also shared its framework with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin before the launch and incorporated his feedback into the methodology, Jones told The Block.

Bluechip’s backers

The launch of Bluechip is supported by MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen, Reserve’s co-founder Nevin Freeman and StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson. MakerDAO is the project behind the Dai stablecoin and Reserve operates the RSV stablecoin. Jones declined to confirm the donation amounts but said the donation tiers will be disclosed on its website.

“We really need something like this. It’s great that the Bluechip team has stepped up to make it happen, and I hope others will donate too and make this new approach to stablecoin evaluation possible as a non-profit,” Christensen said in the statement.

“Everyone says crypto needs to self-regulate, but nobody ever does anything because there’s no big money to be made. Stablecoin ratings are an obvious necessity after the UST collapse, and it’s great to see such a credible and well-meaning team taking on the challenge,” Freeman added. “They have my full support, and I really hope they become as popular as CMC and CoinGecko, so that the next UST isn’t able to swindle so many people.”

Economists, such as Tyler Cowen, Robin Hanson, Alex Tabarrok and Lawrence H. White, along with Ameen Soleimani and Nic Carter, also serve as advisors to the project. The Bluechip team who designed the rating system consists of CEO Benjamin Levit, Chief Economist Garett Jones and Ratings Director Vaidya Pallasena.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.