First Convicted Raccon Fred KursFRED

Ripple’s institutional sales of XRP remain under scrutiny, with the company walking a tightrope to ensure compliance with the Securities Act amid an ongoing injunction. The uncertainty surrounding these sales has raised questions about Ripple’s ability to operate within the bounds of the law. Judge Analisa Torres turned down a $50 million deal between Ripple and the SEC. The settlement would have lifted the permanent ban on institutional sales of XRP. Although both sides agreed to lower the original $125 million fine by 60%, the June 26 order keeps Ripple’s business restrictions in place. Torres said that the parties did not show the “exceptional circumstances” needed to overturn a final ruling. She stressed that the public interest in enforcing securities laws is more important than private settlement agreements. The decision means that XRP can’t be officially sold by institutions. However, retail trading will continue as usual. Another dead end in four years of legal warfare. Now the community is speculating wildly about the token’s future sales. When Ripple sells XRP to institutions, it needs to make sure that it doesn’t break the Securities Act, because that would also be against the order. According to Bill Morgan, it is likely that it has gotten legal advice on how to sell XRP to institutions legally. A member of the Ripple community asked if Ripple could still make institutional sales after registering with the SEC. Lawyer Marc Fagel said they could if they followed the rules for securities. As he put it, “I believe they would be able to sell pursuant to a registered securities offering.” The platform can’t sell the XRP token to institutions unless it files the motion for an indicative decision again. Lawyer Fred Rispoli thinks that both Ripple and the SEC will likely drop their cases and settle the case, which would mean that Judge Torres’ decision would stand. According to Fred Rispoli, the injunction is just a piece of paper issued by a court. Although technically, Torres has the ability to haul Ripple and the SEC back into her court. However, the odds of this are extremely low. Stuart Alderoty called the ruling “historic institutional sales.” Fred Rispoli said, “This signals to me that the parties are going to settle and move on with the understanding that XRP sales to institutions will be done in a way the SEC can live with.” There are things that Ripple can do. Institutions can build compliant DeFi products, like tokenized bond markets, by launching permissioned domains. These domains will only be available to verified participants, which will remove any legal concerns. In institutional lending, direct on-chain lending with loan options that don’t need collateral will be available (expected by Q3 2025), along with Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin and real-world assets (RWAs). This will help the DeFi ecosystem become more mature and stable. Ripple has already partnered with Wormhole with an aim to expand multichain interoperability on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and its upcoming XRPL EVM Sidechain. In addition, Ripple plans to further integrate XRP into institutional finance by buying Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. This will strengthen its role in decentralized finance and cross-margining between digital and traditional assets. Also, regarding that injunction, it doesn’t affect $XRP on the secondary markets, nor will it impact XRP ETF approvals. This wide range of activity, from ETF issuers to individual traders, shows that there is strong demand for XRP futures. So far $542 million has been traded in XRP futures since they first came out. 45% of this amount came from outside of North America. The contract’s open interest (OI) keeps going up; it’s now at $70.5 million in open positions. This shows that the market is still interested. Your crypto news deserves attention - KEY Difference Wire puts you on 250+ top sites

Fred and Joanne Rogers, married on June 9, 1952.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has issued a searing rebuke of the GENIUS Act, warning it may empower tech giants and wealthy financiers to create crypto-based currencies capable of tracking user behavior. She cautions that these stablecoins could follow consumer purchases , collect consumer data, and push out smaller competitors. In a post on X, Warren had doubled her demand for stronger safety measures, saying the bill should not be used as a “bludgeon” for “tech billionaires” to prioritize their self-interest over user safety. The bill could create dangerous loopholes — the kind that power corporations with the ability to unleash unregulated digital currencies outside the ambit of traditional banking regulations, she warned, by allowing it to become law without key amendments. Warren pointed out the risks of these digital currencies. If Congress fails to strengthen the GENIUS Act, she said that billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos could construct stablecoins that mirror one’s spending behaviors, abuse their data, and oust other businesses. She also cautioned that if such digital currencies fail, their creators may come to seek taxpayer-backed bailouts. Other lawmakers, apart from Warren, have been discussing the bill’s existing framework. Critics argue that it does not contain enough safeguards to prevent large technology companies and retail giants from creating private stablecoins that could function unofficially as digital money, raising concerns about surveillance and monopoly. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act has undergone several congressional steps. The recent one was when the Senate passed a cloture motion with a vote of 68 in favor and 30 against last week. This will bring the bill to the floor for final debate before a vote on Tuesday, June 17. At the time, the bill also met pushback from Democratic senators who opposed its anti-money laundering standards, corporate-issuance provisions, and stablecoins issued by foreign companies. Most of those concerns were mitigated in subsequent versions of the bill. However, Warren and some others are still pushing for more protection . A Senate aide noted that “the family is the hard part,” a quote that has prompted questions about President Donald Trump’s connections to World Liberty Financial. His overall participation in crypto businesses has raised questions of conflict of interest and the objectivity of his decisions as a regulator. The GENIUS Act has raised a larger public conversation about financial privacy and government reach. Some users on social media took issue with Senator Warren’s warnings, citing her one-time support of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that they say could also facilitate data collection. Crypto lawyer John E. Deaton was among those who criticized Warren’s role in CBDC. “You backed a consumer CBDC issued by the Federal Reserve,” said Deaton. “So, it’s fine as long as the government does all the tracking and monitoring?” On the other hand, others made the case that corporate-backed stablecoins would be new competition for the banks. Fred Rispoli, a prominent voice in the crypto community, speculated that this law will end the control bank donors have over tracking one’s spending. Proponents of the bill say the GENIUS Act would provide legal aspects to stablecoins, increase consumer access, and establish transparent rules for the market. Still, critics argue that the risks outnumber the rewards without limits on corporate participation. Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot

Some of the largest U.S.-based Bitcoin miners—CleanSpark, MARA, and Riot Platforms—released their May 2025 operational updates today, reporting solid gains. All three companies reported month-over-month gains in Bitcoin ( BTC ) production, infrastructure development, and strategic positioning in the post-halving market. CleanSpark produced 694 BTC in May and reached a hashrate of 45.6 EH/s, a 7.5% increase from the previous month. The company also announced it now holds 12,502 BTC, double its treasury from a year ago, with all reserves mined directly. CleanSpark expanded its contracted power capacity to 987 megawatts and is on track to become the first public miner to hit 50 EH/s with fully self-operated infrastructure. CEO Zach Bradford said CleanSpark’s infrastructure-first model is built to support scaling beyond 60 EH/s while maintaining full operational control. MARA, meanwhile, reported its strongest month since the April 2024 halving. The company produced 950 BTC in May, up 35% from April, and earned 282 blocks—a 38% month-over-month increase. MARA’s BTC holdings now exceed 49,000, with its self-operated MARA Pool contributing significantly through above-average block reward “luck” and operational efficiencies. CEO Fred Thiel emphasized MARA’s vertically integrated model as key to driving down costs and optimizing energy use. Riot Platforms mined 514 BTC in May, marking an 11% increase from April. In addition to mining growth, Riot is investing heavily in its data center business. The company finalized the acquisition of 355 acres near its Corsicana site in Texas to build high-performance computing data centers aimed at enterprise and hyperscale clients. Riot also appointed Jonathan Gibbs, a veteran in the sector, as Chief Data Center Officer to lead the development of the new platform. Together, the three miners are adapting to the post-halving environment by doubling down on infrastructure, vertical integration, and strategic treasury management.