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Skyrocketing debt, rising inflation and bank runs are contributing to an uncertain financial landscape. Crypto can help FAs navigate this future.

Ripple president Monica Long said the company’s recent stake acquisition in European crypto exchange Bitstamp will help further grow the company’s international presence and diversification beyond payments.

“Ripple has a strong balance sheet and we are actively looking for opportunities to continue expanding the business outside of the U.S. and beyond payments, as we further solidify our global leadership position,” Long told The Block. The company acquired an undisclosed stake in Bitstamp from crypto venture capital Pantera. Galaxy Digital Holdings, who advised Pantera on the deal during the first quarter of the year, disclosed the news earlier this month.

“Like Ripple, Bitstamp has a long and established history in the crypto industry. They’re a trusted and leading exchange, particularly in their enterprise-grade and institutional offerings,” Long said. “They have been a valuable partner to Ripple, and as such we were excited at the opportunity to invest in their business and deepen our partnership.”

Ripple works with several crypto exchanges globally, including Bitstamp, to make its payments product more useful with features such as fiat on/off ramps and crypto custody service integration, Long said. Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, CEO of Bitstamp, told The Block that Ripple and Bitstamp have had a partnership since 2017.

“We’re delighted to take this next step to be able to invest together in making the future of crypto even more secure, reliable, and accessible to institutions across the world,” Graftieaux said.

Bitstamp is the fifteenth largest spot crypto exchange in the world by trading volumes, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.

Ripple has been on a buying spree lately. Earlier this month, the crypto payments company acquired Switzerland-based crypto custody startup Metaco for $250 million.

The recent deals come as Ripple is still locked in a years-long feud with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2020, the SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of the XRP token, and also sued CEO Garlinghouse and co-founder Christian Larsen. A decision from a federal judge settling the dispute could come as soon as the first half of this year.

© 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 bank says lawmakers should take advantage of existing regulations that cater to systemic risk and enforcement action for example, as well as stresses the need for crypto specific ones.

Since NFT lending marketplace Blend launched May 1, it has amassed 169,900 ETH, or about $308 Million in volume.

Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino said the likelihood of a potential U.S. default is low as it would have “catastrophic” consequences for the U.S. economy.

“I think this thing with the potential U.S. default that, by the way, I don’t think will happen — I mean, it would be catastrophic for the U.S. economy,” Ardoino said, on The Scoop podcast. “I think everyone is sitting tight to monitor what’s going on and what will happen.”

Ardoino discussed what events could be a catalyst to shake things up in the market, where liquidity has dried up. He noted that while Bitcoin has rebounded from below $20,000 to around $27,000, there’s a bit less space for more volatile investments in general because interest rates are ramping up. He added that people are leaning toward having a 5% yield that’s more certain.

“So you can see that overall, despite the fact that Tether grew in market cap, you see the entire stablecoin market as a sum it went down I think 23% from the all-time highs because in the end people prefer to sit on their dollars and earn interest on it, and so that also leaves less space, less liquidity to actually reinvest that liquidity in the crypto markets,” he said.

But he put forward one possible optimistic path forward. “And so it’s kind of multi-factor, but definitely if we are starting to see the US inflation numbers going down, if the Fed will stop ramping up the interest rates, I believe that we will be in a situation where the markets will start healing, not just the crypto market, the market in general,” he said.

© 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 final compromise appears to allow registered crypto firms to advertise through social media influencers, potentially easing industry fears.

Stablecoin issuer Circle has rolled out its Euro Coin stablecoin on the Avalanche  network, making it the second blockchain to support the asset following the initial launch on Ethereum last year.

Circle said the integration of Euro Coin will be straightforward for Avalanche applications that already support the USDC stablecoin. The expansion of Euro Coin to Avalanche indicates a growing demand for stablecoin diversity on multiple blockchains.

Several applications on Avalanche have shown interest in adding support for Euro Coin, Circle said in a statement, and decentralized finance applications on the Avalanche network including Benqi, Curve, Dexalot, GMX, Pangolin, Shift Markets, and Trader Joe are expected to integrate the stablecoin.

“We launched Euro Coin on Ethereum last year with a vision to make the euro accessible across borders and time zones for anyone with an internet connection,” said Joao Reginatto, VP of Product at Circle. “With the launch on Avalanche, we are enabling developers and users to experience near-instant, more cost-effective transactions, opening up new possibilities for payments, remittances, and 24/7 FX.”

Moreover, Circle Account holders can now leverage Euro Coin liquidity on Avalanche for a variety of uses, including crypto trading, lending, custody and for making or accepting payments.

Circle currently maintains two fiat-based stablecoins including USD Coin, which tracks the U.S. dollar with a market capitalization of almost $29 billion. Euro Coin has a significantly lower market value at $48 million, according to CoinGecko data. 

© 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.

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