Crypto Flipsider News – Robinhood Lists SHIB; Circle Raises $400M from Wall Street, Pantera Raises $1.3B for Blockchain Fund; Ripple Claims Big Win in SEC Case; Indian Exchanges Block Transfer Network

Read in the Digest:

Shiba Inu gets Robinhood listing and begins sale of land for its metaverse.

Circle raises $400M from Wall Street, while Pantera raises $1.3B for blockchain fund, and Genesis raises $150M in latest funding rounds.

The SEC could be forced into a settlement as Ripple claims a “very big win.”

Investors raise alarm as Indian exchanges block transfer network.

Shiba Inu Gets Robinhood Listing and Begins Sale of Land for Its Metaverse

After months of waiting, as well as a community petition, American cryptocurrency trading platform Robinhood has added popular meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) to its crypto list.

Shiba’s listing on Robinhood marks part of a larger expansion of the trading app’s crypto offerings, which also included Solana, Polygon, and Compound. Shiba Inu’s long-anticipated listing caused the meme coin to gain 20% within the last 24 hours.

The 24 hour price chart for Shiba Inu (SHIB). Source: Tradingview

News of the listing came at a fortuitous time as Shiba launched its metaverse ‘land bid event,’ allowing the Shib Army to finally own a piece of land in the Shiba Inu metaverse. The early access event unlocked 35,000 plots of land for purchase, with priority given to LEASH holders.

Currently, only LEASH and Shiboshi holders can view, bid for, and acquire lands for the Shiba Inu Metaverse over the next three days. Following the early access ‘land bid event,’ Shiba Inu will unlock a further 66,000 plots for the public to view, bid for, and purchase in the metaverse.

Flipsider:

The usual buzz of the Shib Army seems to be waning as SHIB falls to 15th place among cryptos by market cap ranking.

Why You Should Care

The metaverse is an opportunity for Shiba Inu to shine in a new light, rather than simply as a meme coin and Dogecoin’s biggest rival.

Circle Raises $400M from Wall Street, While Pantera Raises $1.3B for Blockchain Fund, and Genesis Raises $150M in Latest Funding Rounds

Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin, has become the latest crypto firm to benefit from the increasing number of investments being made by venture capital firms.

Circle announced that its latest $400 million funding round included investments from BlackRock, Fidelity, Marshall Wace LLP, and Fin Capital. In addition to this, Circle also partnered with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, for applications for the USDC.

Pantera Capital, a crypto venture capital firm, announced the acquisition of $1.3 billion for its Blockchain Fund. According to Pantera, the fund will be used to invest in Web 3.0 startups, early-stage tokens, and digital tokens with high liquidity levels.

Silver Lake, a tech investment firm, also announced taking the lead in a $150 million investment round for NFT avatar company Genesis. As the concept of the metaverse continues to grow in popularity, Genesis wants to let users mint NFTs and create their own digital avatars.

Flipsider:

In the week ending April 8th, the crypto industry recorded its second-highest outflows for 2022 as investors pulled a cumulative $134 million out of the industry.

Why You Should Care

The recent wave of VC investments hints that Wall Street could be preparing for the wider adoption of Web 3.0 and cryptocurrencies at large.

The SEC Could Be Forced into Settlement as Ripple Claims a “Very Big Win”

Ripple has claimed “a very big win” in its protracted case against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ripple Labs was initially sued by the SEC in 2020 for selling “unregistered securities.”

In the latest court order, the judge in charge of the case, Sarah Netburn, denied the SEC’s motion to reconsider shielding documents of a June 2018 speech. In the speech, the then SEC director, William Hinman, asserted that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are not securities.

The ruling that the SEC’s documents are not protected by DPP means that the defendants (Ripple Labs) are not able challenge the SEC’s allegations that they were involved in selling unregistered securities.

The court order includes a “bulletproof section” that is expected to prevent appeal by the SEC. The consequences of the ruling are expected to lead to a long awaited outcome for the case, which could finally see a settlement between the SEC and Ripple Labs.

Flipsider:

The updates to the lawsuit provided a trickle of support for XRP, which has been on a downtrend since March.

Why You Should Care

Many experts believe that the future of XRP and the broader crypto ecosystem hinges on the verdict of the Ripple vs. SEC case.

Investors Raise Alarm as Indian Exchanges Block Transfer Network

Leading Indian crypto exchanges CoinSwitch, Kuber, and WazirX have deactivated rupee deposits for crypto purchases made via a widely-used state-backed transfer system, causing users to voice their concerns on social media.

The blocking of crypto purchases follows a statement made last week by the National Payment Corporation of India, which alleged that it was not appraised of crypto exchanges using its United Payments Interface (UPI).

On Wednesday, CoinSwitch users reported that they could no longer make deposits using the UPI option. Similarly, rival exchange WazirX informed users on Twitter: “UPI is not available,” adding that there was currently no estimated time period for a fix to the issue.