According to CoinGape's report, the US Securities and Exchange Commission responded to "Ripple's refusal of its motion to compel," stating that its request for Ripple to provide relevant financial statements was procedurally correct. The SEC still requires Ripple to provide two years of audited financial statements, contracts for the sale or transfer of XRP to "non-employee trading counterparties" after the lawsuit was filed, and detailed amounts of "XRP institutional sales proceeds" received after the lawsuit was filed. In addition, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to penalize Ripple in the XRP lawsuit.

1.The implied volatility of Bitcoin options this week exceeded 97%, which has tripled from the low of about 30% in October last year.

Former US federal prosecutor and defense lawyer James K. Filan disclosed on X platform that Ripple has submitted a rebuttal application opposing the US Securities and Exchange Commission's motion to force further information disclosure. Essentially, Ripple is trying to prevent the SEC from reopening evidence disclosure to obtain more information. Ripple believes that this is irrelevant to the outcome of the case and will only delay the litigation process. Ripple hopes that the court will reject the SEC's motion to force further information disclosure.

According to Newswise, Ripple has provided a $1 million grant to the FinTech Lab of the National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Computing through its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI).The funding will support the lab's operations for the next two years and expand Ripple's collaboration with NUS, including building an EVM side chain validator and maintaining XRPL validator.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in an interview with CNBC that due to hostility from US regulators, Ripple is exploring an initial public offering (IPO) in markets outside the United States and researching listing in other jurisdictions with clear rules. However, going public is not a top priority for Ripple at the moment, and the company will re-evaluate whether to go public in the United States after the US Securities and Exchange Commission gets a new chairman. Previously, in 2022, Garlinghouse told CNBC that Ripple will explore going public after the lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission is resolved.

Solana took over XRP's position in HKVAC's top 5 cryptocurrency global index, and AVAX replaced Tron, amid market fluctuations in the past 30 days.

1.JPMorgan Chase: The probability that the SEC will classify ETH as a commodity before May is less than 50%

Ripple Labs, a cryptocurrency company, is said to be buying back $285 million worth of company stock from early investors and employees. In response to this, Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, stated on social media that employees are more concerned about their stock options, RSUs, or other liquidity pathways. Ripple does not have a specific reason to conduct an IPO for public trading of its stock, and there is no "real" liquidity market as the equity market of private companies generally lacks liquidity.

Yesterday Reuters reported that Ripple Labs is buying back $285 million worth of stock from early investors and employees, citing sources. The tender offer allows owners to sell up to 6% of their stake, valuing the company at $11.3 billion.

The cryptocurrency XRP may launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) this year and the application could be submitted as early as the next few months. Cryptocurrency expert Ben Armstrong hinted at the forthcoming XRP ETF in a video, stating that the application for the ETF could be submitted in April based on insider information and that the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple is also planned to end. Armstrong further stated that BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company and a leading manager of Bitcoin ETFs, will be the first to launch an XRP ETF.

On January 7th, Grayscale announced quarterly updates to the component weights of the multi-asset cryptocurrency index fund GDLC.<br>In this adjustment, Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) added AVAX and XRP, and removed MATIC. As of January 4, 2024, the components of the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund include BTC, ETH, ADA, SOL, AVAX, and XRP;<br>The CRV was removed from the Grayscale DeFi Fund (DEFG) index. The components of the Grayscale DeFi Fund (DEFG) include UNI, LDO, AAVE, MKR, and SNX;<br>The components of the Grayscale Non-Ethereum-based Smart Contract Platform Fund (GSCPxE) include ADA, SOL, MATIC, DOT, AVAX, and ATOM.

Bithomp statistics show that over 5 million NFTs have been minted on the XRP Ledger platform, with 5,166,733 NFTs currently using the XLS-20 standard. At the beginning of 2023, the NFT issuance on the XRP Ledger was less than 1 million.

Ripple recently released its Q3 market report, disclosing its XRP holdings and market operations. As of the end of Q3, Ripple's disposable balance in its corporate account exceeded 5.25 billion XRP. These funds are used at the discretion of the company for operations. Over 41 billion XRP is stored in escrow wallets. Ripple receives 1 billion XRP per month from the escrow wallets (used for sales or operational expenses), some of which are usually sold. The report shows that Ripple sold nearly 892 million XRP between July and September. Nevertheless, Ripple typically re-deposits most of the XRP it receives back into the escrow wallets. For example, since August, approximately 800 million XRP have been returned to the escrow wallets each month.

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen has donated $250,000 to a series of proposals presented to San Francisco Mayor London Breed, which could give police more power in using surveillance technology, drones, and pursuing suspects. Local media outlet SFS reported that Larsen is currently the largest donor, having provided $350,000 to a voting measure campaign sponsored by Breed ahead of next year's election.

On December 23rd, according to data published by analyst Ali on X platform, Ripple's whales increased their holdings by about 360 million XRP in the past week, worth about $223 million.

The daily trading volume of XRP is at a six-year low. The recorded trading volume of 1.9 billion on Thursday was lower than last year's 2.4 billion and significantly lower than the record of 19 billion in 2020. Cryptocurrency detectives say that the downward trend in trading volume not only affects XRP, but also affects the entire cryptocurrency industry.

Ripple announced that its Irish subsidiary, Ripple Markets Ireland Limited (Ripple Markets), has been added to the Central Bank of Ireland's (CBI) register of virtual asset service providers (VASPs). This decision will support Ripple in providing specific digital asset services in Ireland.

Palau cybersecurity advisor Jay Hunter Anson tweeted that the Palau Ministry of Finance has officially launched the second phase of the Palau Stablecoin (PSC) program, which will focus on building a strong digital ecosystem, improving accessibility and user engagement, and will prioritize legal and regulatory compliance.<br>The phase plan will integrate financial institutions, legal and regulatory compliance, regulatory agencies, legal frameworks, enterprises, and users to achieve transaction security and transparency that meets international standards.<br>In addition, Jay Hunter Anson also stated that Palau will continue to work with Ripple, utilizing Ripple's carbon-neutral CBDC platform and technology.

Ripple recently released a white paper clarifying central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The document analyzes the potential benefits, related risks, and adoption barriers of CBDCs. According to Ripple's white paper, CBDC projects are flourishing globally. Currently, 130 countries, which account for 98% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), are actively exploring or implementing CBDC initiatives. Multiple countries/regions, including the United States, South Africa, and various EU member states, have entered the exploration phase. China has entered the pilot phase and is about to launch comprehensively in certain areas.

On December 14th, Ripple released a CBDC whitepaper emphasizing support for central bank digital currencies. In the document, Ripple explains the basics, advantages, and risks of CBDCs, as well as the barriers to widespread adoption. The whitepaper notes that CBDCs can help expand financial inclusion, simplify cross-border payments, and strengthen monetary policy control.