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July 14, 2023

🥛 MILKBUSTERS: Did Ripple just beat the SEC 🤔

Today’s edition is brought to you by Bitcoin Depot – the largest Bitcoin ATM network in North America, operating ~6,500 kiosks.

GM. This is Milk Road, the Goldendoodle of crypto newsletters. We’re the perfect mix [of news & fun.]

Happy Friday. Leggo:

  • Did XRP win its case vs. the SEC? 🤔

  • The Celsius CEO got arrested 📓

  • Google Play is opening up to NFTs 🍪

Prices as of 9:35 AM ET.

MILKBUSTERS: DID RIPPLE WIN ITS CASE AGAINST THE SEC? 🤔

Welcome back to another episode of Milkbusters, where we debunk crypto myths and give you the Cold Hard Truth.

Today we’re talking about what everyone’s talking about: Ripple and its token XRP.

Let’s dive in…

What happened: A U.S. judge issued a pre-trial ruling yesterday in the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple (it was made in the same court as the SEC vs. Coinbase case: the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.)

Myth: Ripple won its case against the SEC.

Truth: Not entirely, or yet. The ruling was a “split decision.” And Ripple was handed some good news and bad news…

The good news is the judge ruled:

  • The token (XRP) itself is not a security.

  • Ripple’s sale of XRP on crypto exchanges isn’t a securities offering.

  • A token is completely separate from the investment contract. This is a legal thing the crypto industry’s been fighting for.

Now, sorry to do this, but…

Time for the bad news:

  • The judge ruled Ripple still violated securities laws when it sold $750M worth of XRP tokens to banks, hedge funds, VCs, etc.

  • The Ripple vs. SEC case is going to trial now to figure out if the rest of the SEC’s claims against the company are true. That includes whether execs aided/abetted offering unregistered XRP to institutional investors.

This is what we like to call a Sour Patch Case: It’s sweet… and then it’s sour.

Having a judge rule your native token not a security is a pretty sweet feat. But part of the sale of your token being called illegal is like shoving 10 Warheads in your mouth: that shit’s sour af.

Still, this is a big win for crypto as a whole.

If XRP is dubbed not a security, others (like SOL) could, too. This also gives a short-term green light that sales via exchanges are okay.

That’s why Gemini, Kraken, and Coinbase said they’re relisting XRP after the ruling came out. Nature is healing…

“Big deal. Battle won, but war not over,” as Vanderbuilt lawyer James Murphy (AKA MetaLawMan) told us.

Champagne’s on us tonight, Roaders. 🍾

Here’s how Crypto Twitter reacted:

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And they just became the first Bitcoin ATM company to go public as a company, listing on the NASDAQ under ticker BTM.

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CELSIUS’ CEO GETS ARRESTED AND SUED 📓

What a year for Celsius…

On July 13, 2022 – the crypto lender filed for bankruptcy after losing billions in customer funds.

On July 13, 2023 – Alex Mashinsky (the CEO) got arrested and charged with fraud.

Ladies & gents, we got him!

Mashinsky is facing seven criminal charges including securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud. This guy pulled off the Trifecta of Fraud.

Mashinsky and Celsius are also being sued by the SEC, the CFTC, and the FTC. The latter has issued a $4.7B fine along with the lawsuit.

Here are some of the allegations:

  • Celsius spent $90M buying their own CEL token to inflate the price.

  • Celsius lied about their risk management strategies in place.

  • Mashinky made false and misleading statements about Celsius’s safety to encourage investors to deposit billions of dollars onto the platform.

  • As Celsius was losing everything, Mashinsky lied about it all. They kept using phrases like "Pour Yourself a Cup of Profits" and "Profits in your Pocket" to promote their products.

He did get released on bail for $40M and pled not guilty to these charges, but still. The arrest is a big win. 

In order for crypto to work, we need bad actors to get punished and reckless players need to get rekt.

Yo Alexa, play ‘It Was A Good Day’ by Ice Cube.

MILK & COOKIES 🍪

Google Play is opening up the ability for users to buy, sell, and earn digital assets in apps. Yo Apple, you takin’ notes??

Multichain has announced it's ceasing operations after its CEO was arrested and the team lost access to the funds. Talk about a movie…

Gucci and Christie’s auction house are teaming up to release a new NFT collection. There will be a total of 21 NFTs in the collection and each one will be created using AI.

Europe’s first Bitcoin ETF is set to launch later this month. The Bitcoin ETF was set to launch last year but was delayed after the Luna collapse, but now “the time is right.”

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