Ripple v. SEC final ruling, BTC below $50k, Harris woos crypto voters, Solana ETF | Weekly Recap

Ripple received a $125 million fine, while Bitcoin slumped below $50,000 for the first time in six months amid market-wide turmoil. Also, Vice President Kamala Harris’s team began efforts to woo crypto voters. In South America, Brazil approved the first Solana ETF. 

Final ruling concludes Ripple v. SEC

• Judge Analisa Torres made the final decision in the Ripple v. SEC lawsuit on Aug. 7, imposing a $125 million fine on Ripple for its violations of securities laws from XRP sales to institutions. This ends the 45-month lawsuit in the absence of any appeals.

• The fine was 94% lower than the $2 billion proposed by the SEC, but 12x more than the $10 million suggested by Ripple. Still, Ripple considered it a partial victory, with XRP skyrocketing toward $0.65 shortly after. 

• Two days after the ruling, Ripple revealed that it had begun private beta testing of its proprietary Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin on the Ethereum and XRPL mainnets.

Bitcoin drops below $50,000

• Last week, Bitcoin (BTC) and the rest of the crypto market witnessed the largest widespread decline yet this year. On Aug. 5, BTC collapsed underneath $50,000 for the first time in six months. Liquidations across the market surpassed $1 billion.

• Meanwhile, Bitcoin whale accumulation took shape, with reports confirming the purchase of $23 billion in BTC within 30 days.  

• BTC eventually recovered the $60,000 level as the market rebounded. CryptoQuant’s Ki Young Ju suggested Bitcoin could still reach a new ATH if it holds above $45,000.

Harris looks to the crypto industry 

• Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s team made efforts to woo crypto voters. On Aug. 6, Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. 

• Following this move, the Democratic candidate’s odds of winning the elections shot up from 3% to 46% on Polymarket. Shortly after, Harris overtook Republican Donald Trump in the polls.

• Further reports confirmed that Democratic stakeholders launched a campaign dubbed “Crypto for Harris” to engage crypto industry leaders on pro-crypto policies.

• A virtual crypto roundtable meeting occurred on Aug. 8. However, Harris didn’t attend, baffling Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss. 

Brazil approves Solana ETF

• In Brazil, the country’s SEC approved the launch of the first Solana ETF last week. However, the product remains in the pre-operational state. The reports confirm that the ETF needs to secure approval from Brazil’s stock exchange B3 to officially launch. 

FTX to pay $12 billion to creditors 

• Judge Peter Castel ruled that FTX and Alameda Research would pay $12.7 billion to creditors in its settlement with the CFTC, and cease providing any services related to crypto trading.

Crypto venture capital 

• Several startups secured significant funds last week, including Andrena ($18 million), Vessel ($10 million), Cartridge ($7.5 million) and Pentagon Games ($6 million).

• CEHV founder Adam Cochran discussed in detail how “VCs have slowed investing in crypto by a lot.” “Most of them have LPs that just want to beat index fund returns,” he wrote on X.com. Too many investors are reluctant to make early-stage bets and “don’t actually pursue moonshots, they just throw capital at breakout trends.”