Micheal Barr, the former member of Ripple’s board of advisors, is set to become the United States’ next banking regulator, according to a report. A former assistant treasury secretary, Barr will become the second individual with crypto connections to lead the Office of Currency Comptroller (OCC.) The recently departed Currency Comptroller Brian Brooks is a former Coinbase executive.

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Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has addressed some of the allegations made by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against his company. He focused on answering five questions on what he calls “unproven allegations” by the regulator.

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Ripple has hit back at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accusing it of creating more uncertainty and failing in its duty to protect the crypto community. In panning the SEC’s decision to designate its XRP token as a security, the company claims the regulator’s lawsuit against it amounts to an attack on the entire crypto market in the US.

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Digital currency markets have seen some volatile action this week and during the last 24 hours following the XRP charges, a number of coins shed a great deal of value. At the time of publication, the entire crypto-economy is valued at $629 billion and because XRP lost so much value, bitcoin’s dominance index has risen above the 68% mark.

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Ripple Labs Inc., issuers of the XRP cryptocurrency, has filed for a new trademark called “Paystring” with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

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Ripple Labs Inc. is being sued in an Australian court for allegedly infringing a trademark belonging to several local banks. A lawsuit filed by the New Payments Platform Australia (NPPA), a joint venture between the Reserve Bank of Australia and 13 domestic banks, claims that Ripple copied its PayID brand.

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An Australian hacker who stole 100,000 units of the XRP cryptocurrency has been sentenced to a maximum of two years and three months in jail, local media reported.

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Veteran trader Peter Brandt knocked the digital currency XRP on Thursday and compared the crypto token company Ripple to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Brandt said he believes the company behind the coin will double the token supply, and he doesn’t understand why “otherwise smart people” have drank the “XRP-Kool-aide.”

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Ripple is suing Youtube, accusing the video platform of not doing enough to eliminate crypto-related “giveaway” scams. The payment network wants to force Youtube to protect its users from such scams. Some scammers promise returns up to 5 million XRP or about $930,000 at current prices, but participants in the “giveaway” never received the money, according to court papers.

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Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against Ripple Labs have filed another litigation complaint against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The news follows the recent court judgment that denied Ripple Lab’s attempt to get the case dismissed.

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Ripple is developing a feature that could allow users to mint asset-backed tokens directly on top of XRP Ledger, the firm's tech chief has said.

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Payments firm Ripple has given MoneyGram, a remittance firm, over $11 million in the past half year, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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Mastercard has joined a working group that supports blockchain education and research in universities around the world.

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DAVOS, Switzerland — Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said an initial public offering (IPO) is seen as the “natural evolution for the company,” perhaps even this year.

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A prolonged legal battle, which may hold the key to XRP’s future, has been extended again. The class action lawsuit alleges that Ripple issued and sold the coin, one of the largest by market cap, as an unregistered security.

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Ripple has condensed its broad Xpring developer platform into a single site. The new platform aims to allow crypto and non-crypto developers to integrate payments into any mobile application. Now, Xpring.io offers those developers a wallet, new tools, technical documentation and Xrping customer service. 

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The Takeaway:

• Monday is the deadline for an XRP holder to file a response to Ripple’s motion to dismiss his suit against the company.

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• Bitcoin tends to pick up a strong bid six months ahead of the reward halving, according to historical data.

Cybersecurity startup Keyless has raked in $2.2 million in seed funding to expand a security product that unlocks access to users’ private keys with encrypted biometric data.

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Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the U.S., has quietly tested out Ripple’s distributed ledger technology – and may be planning to do more with it.

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Ripple’s Xpring is launching a platform it says makes it possible for developers to integrate fiat and cryptocurrency payments into any application.

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Coinme, which provides kiosks and ATMs for digital currencies, raised $1.5 million in a Series A-1 financing round that included Ripple’s subsidiary Xpring and Blockchain Finance Fund, the company said.

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Distributed ledger startup Ripple has added a new client to its global settlements platform, RippleNet.

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Spanish megabank Santander Group is expanding its use of Ripple’s technology.

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XRP is flashing red this Tuesday morning with a long-term price indicator turning bearish for the first time in over a year.

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Blockchain payments startup Ripple is looking to make new investments and acquisitions, with a few deals reportedly underway, according to the company CEO.

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The first half of 2019 brought goods times for cryptos in general, and particularly Binance coin. XRP, though, eked out relatively meager gains.

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Blockchain payments startup Ripple has struck a deal to buy a stake in money transfer giant MoneyGram, the companies announced Monday.

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XRP is teasing a long-term bullish reversal, with a surge in price and a bullish chart pattern likely to occur next week.

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Blockchain payments startup Ripple has added new director to its board, Yoshitaka Kitao, who is currently president, representative director and CEO of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings.

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