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Today in cryptocurrency, a judge rejected Ripple and the SEC’s plea to diminish a $125 million civil fine, Galaxy Digital secured $175 million for its inaugural externally funded venture fund, and Invesco emerged as the ninth entity to apply for a spot Solana ETF.
US judge rejects Ripple, SEC combined plea to diminish $125M fine
A US district court dismissed a joint motion from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple seeking an indicative ruling to lessen a $125 million civil fine and overturn an order categorizing primary sales of XRP to institutional investors as securities transactions under Article 5 of the Securities Act.
An indicative ruling permits lower courts like the district court to issue directives for a case pending review in the higher appellate court system, subject to the higher court’s consent.
In a Thursday submission to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Analisa Torres stated that the court would not overturn the prior rulings, including the $125 million fine, which aligned with federal securities regulations enacted by Congress. Torres maintained:
Ultimately, the Court granted in part the SEC’s plea for an injunction and a civil fine because the Court found that ‘Ripple’s eagerness to test the limits of the [Summary Judgment] Order indicates a likelihood that it will eventually, if it has not already, cross the line.’ None of this has altered — and the parties barely pretend that it has.
Nonetheless, they now assert that it is in the public interest to reduce the civil fine by sixty percent and vacate the permanent injunction established less than a year ago,” Torres noted.
The parties could only decrease the fine and bypass the lower court’s initial rulings through the appeals process specified by Congress and not by directly urging the lower court to reverse its orders, Torres explained.
Galaxy Digital secures $175 million in initial fund to enhance crypto investments
Galaxy Digital has finalized a $175 million venture fund, its first with external capital, as the firm accelerates plans to invest in early-stage crypto startups.
The fund, which surpassed its $150 million goal, signifies the first time Galaxy has embraced external capital. Until now, the company had exclusively depended on its own financial resources for venture investments, as noted in a Thursday press release.
The fund aims for high-growth sectors such as stablecoins, tokenization, and payments, in addition to the software layers that support them.
“We’re witnessing a surge of adoption from both institutions and retail users worldwide—especially regarding applications such as payments, capital markets, and financial services in a broader context,” general partner Mike Giampapa remarked.
Founder and CEO Mike Novogratz stated that the company successfully closed its inaugural venture fund over target during one of the most challenging times for crypto fundraising.
“With strong ties to onchain markets and blockchain infrastructure, we’re devoted to supporting founders and startups creating real-world applications that are shaping the next phase of crypto adoption,” he added.
Invesco becomes 9th contender for spot Solana ETF
Asset management firm Invesco has aligned as the ninth entity aiming to initiate a spot Solana (SOL) exchange-traded fund, submitting a registration statement to regulators on Wednesday in collaboration with Galaxy Digital for the Invesco Galaxy Solana ETF.
The fund would directly possess Solana and seek to track its price, and, if authorized, would trade on the Cboe BZX exchange under the ticker “QSOL.” The filing indicated it could also stake a portion of the SOL “occasionally.”
Invesco and Galaxy will need to file Form 19b-4, which suggests a rule alteration to the SEC, for the agency to commence the process of evaluating the ETF for approval.
It joins CoinShares, VanEck, Bitwise, Grayscale, 21Shares, Canary Capital, Franklin Templeton, and Fidelity Investments in attempting to launch a Solana ETF, which analysts predict has a 90% likelihood of approval and could be endorsed next month, well ahead of a regulatory deadline of Oct. 10.
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