Ripple to get $75M of court-ordered fine back from SEC, drops cross-appeal (Coin Desk)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will return $75 million of the $125 million-court ordered fine paid by Ripple last year. The proposed settlement, subject to commissioner and court approval, comes a week after the SEC agreed to drop its appeal of U.S. District Court judge Analisa Torres’ 2023 ruling that Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP to retail exchanges did not violate federal securities laws. Torres found that only Ripple’s institutional sales violated securities laws, ordering Ripple to pay the $125 million fine. The fine was less than the nearly $2 billion in civil penalties, disgorgement and prejudgement interest the SEC initially requested, and the SEC had filed an appeal, and Ripple filed a cross ppeal of the SEC’s appeal. As part of the pending settlement agreement, the SEC will drop its appeal and ask the court to lift the standard injunction imposed against Ripple, and Ripple will drop its cross-appeal [Read more on X]

Are CBDC projects moving forward without public buy-In? (Finextra)

The Warwick University Business School (WBS) Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology published its response the Bank of England’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) consultation. One of its main points was that, even with a strong policy case, a digital pound will only fulfill its purpose if people adopt it. In the United Kingdom, relatively strong retail payments landscape would present a challenge in this regard. However, two particular pain points suggest a pathway to adoption; merchant frustration over high card payment costs and lack of alternatives, and clunky person-to-person (P2P) payments. A digital pound is not the only solution here, but perhaps these concerns suggest a pathway to adoption. However, most consumers don’t directly bear payment costs (merchants) and prices typically remain the same regardless of the payment method, so there’s little direct incentive for users to switch, complicating adoption. And anxieties around CBDC privacy are ironic in the context of widespread reliance on payment systems that are not private, but maybe a CBDC with cash-like attributes could carve out a unique niche. [Read more at the WBS]

Custodia Bank partners Vantage for first US bank ‘stablecoin’ issuance (Ledger Insights)

Custodia Bank has partnered with Texas community bank Vantage to mint, transfer and redeem a deposit token on the Ethereum blockchain. The reason for using quotes around the term “stablecoin” is because deposit tokens on a permissionless blockchain appear similar to stablecoins, but if they are purely backed by deposits and issued by a bank, then economically and legally they are different – they’re bank deposits using a different technology. That’s why the stablecoin bills progressing through Congress exclude bank-issued crypto-assets backed by deposits. [Read more on X]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

• The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) will explore the future of money with a focus on CBDCs, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and the intersection of AI and digital ID. When you register, get 20% off the regular ticket price by using the Kiffmeister20 code! [Register here]

And just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only) if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at john@kiffmeister.com.