First Hong Kong Regulated Digital Asset Exchange Halts XRP Trading Following SEC Enforcement Action [U] – Other Exchanges Cancel XRP

December 23, 2020 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois

Just last week, OSL became the first licensed digital asset trading platform in Hong Kong. It received approval by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to conduct Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 7 (automated trading service -ATS) regulated activities and claims to be the world’s first SFC-licensed, listed, digital asset wallet-insured, Big-4 audited digital asset trading platform for institutions and professional investors. As well, OSL has applied to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a digital asset license under the Payment Services Act.

Today, following the enforcement action by the US Securities and Exchange Commission targeting Ripple, creator of XRP, OSL has suspended payments and trading of XRP until further notice. The news was distributed via a Tweet:

Please note: In light of US Securities & Exchange Commission’s enforcement action against Ripple Labs & 2 of its executives, we have suspended all #XRP payment in and trading services on the OSL platform, effective immediately and until further notice.https://t.co/EXJJEHMawn

— OSL (@osldotcom) December 23, 2020

The complaint by the SEC is fairly damning as it alleges the offering of an unregistered security that enriched executives while providing little value aligned with the stated services of Ripple. One crypto insider told Crowdfund Insider that the enforcement action was a long time in coming.

Perhaps a bigger question now is whether, or not, other digital asset exchanges will do the same and curtail trading in XRP – an entity that is now independent of Ripple. Following the news of the lawsuit against Ripple, the price of XRP collapsed by over 30% – dropping it to 4th place (from 3rd) in the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Update – Just received a note that two other exchanges, CrossTower and Beaxy have canceled XRP too.

CrossTower issued the following statement:

CrossTower made the decision to remove XRP from its US-based trading platform – effective immediately. Customers using CrossTower ‘s global trading platform remain unaffected by this decision and can still trade XRP by clicking here. All customers affected by this decision were immediately notified and withdrawals for XRP will be enabled until further notice. CrossTower remains committed to its customers and their digital assets.

Beaxy took to Twitter to announce it had decided to halt trading in XRP:

The SEC has charged @Ripple with conducting an unregistered security sale.

Due to this, #Beaxy has halted trading for XRP pending further news. $XRP withdrawals will remain enabled until further notice. pic.twitter.com/lVVqXJPdPP

— Beaxy Exchange (@BeaxyExchange) December 22, 2020