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šŸ„› MILKBUSTERS: Did Ripple just beat the SEC šŸ¤”

PLUS: WE GOT HIM! MASHINSKY GOT ARRESTED!

Todayā€™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. Weā€™re the perfect mix [of news & fun.]

Happy Friday. Leggo:

  • Did XRP win its case vs. the SEC? šŸ¤”

  • The Celsius CEO got arrested šŸ““

  • Google Play is opening up to NFTs šŸŖ

Prices as of 9:35 AM ET.

MILKBUSTERS: DID RIPPLE WIN ITS CASE AGAINST THE SEC? šŸ¤”

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

Today weā€™re talking about what everyoneā€™s talking about: Ripple and its token XRP.

Letā€™s dive inā€¦

What happened: A U.S. judge issued a pre-trial ruling yesterday in the SECā€™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 ā€œsplit decision.ā€ And Ripple was handed some good news and bad newsā€¦

The good news is the judge ruled:

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

  • Rippleā€™s sale of XRP on crypto exchanges isnā€™t a securities offering.

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

Now, sorry to do this, butā€¦

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 SECā€™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: Itā€™s sweetā€¦ and then itā€™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 shitā€™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.

Thatā€™s why Gemini, Kraken, and Coinbase said theyā€™re relisting XRP after the ruling came out. Nature is healingā€¦

ā€œBig deal. Battle won, but war not over,ā€ as Vanderbuilt lawyer James Murphy (AKA MetaLawMan) told us.

Champagneā€™s on us tonight, Roaders. šŸ¾

Hereā€™s how Crypto Twitter reacted:

Whatā€™s better than buying Bitcoin?

Being able to buy Bitcoin anywhere you go. Convenience stores, shopping malls, and grocery chains. You name it.

Well, itā€™s all done with the help of Bitcoin Depot. They are the largest Bitcoin ATM provider in North America, allowing anyone to buy Bitcoin with physical cash.

When a customer deposits cash in the machine, they are able to transfer the corresponding amount of bitcoin to their wallet instantly, minus a small fee.

Itā€™s no surprise they are growing rapidly. Bitcoin Depot:

  • Has kiosks in 6,500 locations throughout the US and Canada

  • Has a focus on security and proactively helping their customers avoid scams and fraud

  • Fast transaction times and live customer support via text, phone, email, or chat

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

CELSIUSā€™ CEO GETS ARRESTED AND SUED šŸ““

What a year for Celsiusā€¦

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 Celsiusā€™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 ā€˜It Was A Good Dayā€™ by Ice Cube.

MILK & COOKIES šŸŖ

Gucci and Christieā€™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.

Europeā€™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 ā€œthe time is right.ā€

MILKY MEMES šŸ¤£

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