Ripple CEO Denies 'Attacking' Tether, XRP Spikes 194% in Volume as Key Ripple v. SEC Date Arrives, XRP Ledger Gets South Korean Validator: Crypto News Digest by U.Today
Here is the summary of the top three news stories about Ripple, XRP and XRP Ledger.
Ripple CEO denies "attacking" Tether
In the ongoing X exchange between the Ripple and Tether CEOs, Brad Garlinghouse defended his recent comment about USDT. As a reminder, during his appearance on the World Class podcast, Garlinghouse stated that it was "clear" to him that the U.S. government is targeting Tether; the statement caught the attention of Tether head Paolo Ardoino, who referred to the Ripple CEO as "uninformed" while mentioning Ripple's own legal issues in the U.S. Replying to Ardoino's scathing post, Garlinghouse wrote that he did not attack Tether but underscored the importance of the largest stablecoin issuer in the crypto ecosystem. He then clarified that what he actually meant is that the U.S. government wants more control over dollar-backed stablecoins, which is why Tether, as the largest player, is "in their line of sight."
XRP skyrockets 194% in volume as key Ripple v. SEC date arrives
Data provided by CoinGlass demonstrates a substantial surge in XRP derivatives trading volume, which increased by 194% over the previous day, May 13. Speaking in monetary terms, the turnover of derivatives, primarily open-ended futures, reached highs of $831.89 million. At the same time, the crypto's spot market experienced a 130% rise in trading volume, reaching a total of $878.89 million. This spike propels XRP's overall turnover on centralized platforms to $1.7 billion within a single day. Given that XRP's market capitalization stands at $28 billion, the asset's trading volume represents about 6% of its capitalization, indicating notable but moderate trading activity. The timing of XRP trading activity coincides with an important development in the Ripple-SEC legal battle; on May 13, the parties filed omnibus letter-motions, seeking to seal all materials related to the remedies-related briefing, including briefs, declarations and supporting exhibits. Additionally, the parties submitted proposed redactions to such materials.
XRP Ledger gets South Korean validator
According to the official announcement by Infinite Block, a virtual asset service provider based in South Korea, it has become a validator on the XRP Ledger. By participating in XRP Ledger as a validator, Infinite Block is expected to enable the steady development of the XRPL ecosystem within Korea's regulatory framework. In early 2023, the Korean Financial Services Commission granted Infinite Block a license to operate as a virtual asset service provider, which made it the only company out of 50 to pass the regulator's evaluation. Jung Gu-tae, CEO at Infinite Block, stated that the company's most recent move is aimed at boosting XRPL's reliability. "We will contribute not only to user protection but also to enhancing the reliability of XRPL based on thorough regulatory compliance, both domestically and internationally," the CEO said.