'BlackRock's Ripple Trust Registration Application' Fake News Causes Sharp Fluctuations
Analyzed as False Information Registered Impersonating BlackRock
Due to fake news, an incident occurred where the price of Ripple, ranked 5th in market capitalization among all virtual assets, surged and plunged by more than 12% within just 20 minutes.
According to the global virtual asset market status relay site CoinMarketCap, Ripple's price, which was $0.65 (approximately 864 KRW) at 5:45 AM on the 14th, soared to $0.73 just 20 minutes later. Then, 30 minutes after that, it dropped back to the pre-surge price of $0.65, showing a sharp fluctuation.
This sharp fluctuation is analyzed to have been caused by some media outlets reporting fake news related to Ripple. The Block and others reported that the global asset management firm BlackRock had applied to register the Ripple trust 'ISHARES XRP TRUST ENTITY' on the Delaware corporate registration website. This led to expectations that BlackRock would launch a Ripple exchange-traded fund (ETF), causing Ripple's price to surge. However, the registration of the Ripple trust by BlackRock was proven to be fake news, and the price returned all gains.
Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF specialist researcher, explained via X (formerly Twitter), "This is fake," and said, "I confirmed it through BlackRock." It is currently understood that someone impersonated BlackRock and falsely registered related information.
This is not the first time that fake news has caused virtual asset prices to fluctuate. Earlier, on the 16th of last month, news spread that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved BlackRock's Bitcoin spot ETF application, causing Bitcoin's price to rise about 7% in just 30 minutes. The virtual asset specialized media Cointelegraph reported this, but the incident occurred when an employee shared a manipulated spot ETF approval article, made to look like it was written by Bloomberg, on the company messenger. Cointelegraph deleted the post and apologized for the report after one hour. When it was revealed to be fake news, Bitcoin's price, which had surged to around $29,400, fell to the $28,200 range within 30 minutes due to disappointment selling.
There is also advice to be cautious when investing as virtual asset prices fluctuate sharply due to ETF-related news that has recently attracted market attention. Furthermore, not only ETFs but also fake news related to virtual assets have continued to emerge, so caution is needed regarding price fluctuations based on unverified information. In 2021, fake news spread that the Indian government had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, and in May of this year, false information circulated that the U.S. government would sell Bitcoins seized from criminal organizations. The UK media CityAM also reported, citing anonymous sources, that Amazon was highly likely to adopt Bitcoin as a payment method, but after Amazon denied this, Bitcoin's price, which had surged more than 10%, plunged again.
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