SEC Chair Gensler silent on Ripple Labs appeal, Tesla hangs on to $184m in crypto

Thursday is here!

US Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler declined to say whether the agency will appeal a judge’s ruling last week in the landmark Ripple Labs case. Carmaker Tesla earnings report showed it still hasn’t sold its crypto holdings, while the slow adoption of China’s digital yuan has cast doubt about central bank digital currencies in general.

We also highlight some crypto industry optimism from this week’s EthCC conference in Paris.

Enjoy!

SEC’s Gensler silent on XRP appeal

Gensler stayed mum about his agency’s plans to appeal the split decision verdict made last week in the market watchdog’s case against Ripple Labs, when he spoke with reporters before a senate hearing on Wednesday.

The SEC chair highlighted favourable parts of the ruling “with regards to institutional investors,” where Judge Analisa Torres determined $700 million of Ripple’s XRP sales broke securities laws.

Ripple’s XRP token continued its rally Wednesday, when it outperformed all other top 20 market cap cryptocurrencies.

Tesla ‘HODL’ for fourth quarter

Tesla held on to its $184 million in crypto for the fourth consecutive quarter, the electric car manufacturer said in its earnings report on Wednesday.

Tesla sold 75% of its crypto holdings in the second quarter of 2022, just over a year after it bought $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, but has made no further sales since.

Polygon and Solana lead $30m Cosmic Wire raise

Blockchain companies Polygon and Solana led a $30 million funding round for web3 company Cosmic Wire, the startup said on Wednesday.

Cosmic Wire seeks to develop infrastructure for the metaverse, including artificial intelligence-backed avatars, as well as analytics solutions.

Coinbase lead sees mass adoption

Crypto exchange Coinbase’s protocols lead Jesse Pollak told Decrypt “there’s going to be eight billion people on-chain over the next decade” at the EthCC conference in Paris on Wednesday.

Pollak’s statements come despite a 9% drop in monthly transacting users on Coinbase compared to 2022.

Digital yuan failures should be a warning

CBDCs are a hot topic right now, with US Republican hopeful Ron DeSantis having reiterated his pledge to ban a federal digital dollar this week. He’s not alone in being sceptical about CBDCs.

The slow adoption of China’s digital yuan has made several experts wonder if CBDCs are solutions looking for a problem to solve, telling DL News’ reporters it “should absolutely be a warning for Western governments looking to create their own CBDC.”

What we’re reading around the web

Bipartisan Bill Would Give US Treasury Authority Over DeFi — Decrypt

SEC Chair Gensler Cites ‘Wild West’ of Crypto in Case to Increase Agency’s Budget — CoinDesk

Nomad Bridge’s Illusory Systems seeks to dismiss hack-related class action lawsuit — Blockworks