The Delaware authorities have taken over the case involving the false BlackRock XRP ETF filing which appeared on the Delaware’s Department of State Division of Corporations on Monday.
Authorities Probe Blackrock XRP ETF Legitimacy
Amidst the excitement surrounding the introduction of ETFs into the crypto market, concerns have also been raised about the existence of falsified ETF filings in the market.
A regulatory filing that suggested that BlackRock had filed an XRP Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) has been going viral in the crypto space. However, BlackRock has swiftly debunked the allegations and clarified that it has not filed any ETFs other than its Spot Bitcoin ETF and Ethereum Spot ETF.
According to Bloomberg, the Delaware Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued an official investigation on the false BlackRock XRP ETF filing. The case was handed over to them by the Delaware Division of Corporations.
A senior Bloomberg ETF Analyst, Eric Balchunas revealed in an X (formerly Twitter) post that a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of State confirmed that the fraudulent XRP ETF filing has been given to the authorities.
“Latest on fake XRP ETF filing: ‘Our only comment is that this matter has been referred to the Delaware Department of Justice,’ the spokesperson (for Delaware Dept of State) said. Damn. Someone out there is crapping their pants as we speak,” Balchunas stated.
Presently, the BlackRock XRP ETF filing is still displayed on the Delaware website, showing one of the BlackRock Managing Directors, Daniel Schweiger as the registered agent. It is unclear what the results of the investigations carried out by the authorities would yield. However, if the fake filing is found to be real, it could lead to fraudulent charges on the party responsible.
Rising Concerns Over Crypto Market Deceptions
Recently, the crypto space has been plagued with deceptive information which has caused erratic price movements on certain cryptocurrencies. XRP is the latest victim of these price manipulation tactics.
The cryptocurrency experienced gains of over 15% following news of an XRP ETF filing by BlackRock. After the rumors were denied by the asset management company, the cryptocurrency lost back gains and is presently trading at $0.630.
Other deceptive schemes include the rumors of BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF approval by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which caused an uptick in Bitcoin’s price.
There have also been deep fake scam videos going rampant in the crypto space. A particular incident featured a deep fake video impersonating Ripple CEO, Bradley Garlinghouse and giving out false information and giveaways.
Ripple’s CEO has warned the XRP community to be cautious of these scams targeting XRP holders. Garlinghouse has also stated that community members should endeavor to get all information only from official Ripple channels.
“There’s been an uptick in deepfake scam videos overlaying new words with old video footage from Ripple’s events (YouTube are you asleep at the wheel again?!). Reminder: don’t trust, verify (all approved messaging will only come from official Ripple accounts),” Garlinghouse stated.
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Featured image from Coinpedia, chart from Tradingview.com