Coin Edition -
- A fake BlackRock “iShares XRP Trust” fund has pushed Delaware to report the matter to the DOJ, as per Bloomberg Law.
- It resembled a filing that BlackRock had submitted last week for its iShares Ethereum Trust offering.
- XRP surged by 15% when word of the bogus application made headlines.
A hoax filing for a BlackRock Inc. “iShares XRP Trust” fund has prompted the Delaware Office of the Secretary of State to report the matter to the Department of Justice, as reported by Bloomberg Law.
The fictitious registration appeared on the official state government website, implying that the asset management giant was getting ready to introduce an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for XRP. Interestingly, it closely resembled legitimate paperwork that BlackRock had submitted last week for its iShares Ethereum Trust offering.
The filing has listed the name of BlackRock’s Managing Director, Daniel Schweiger, as the registered agent—the same one used on the ETH ETF filing. The paperwork is no longer available on the Delaware site as of press time, but screenshots of it are still circulating online.
Debunking the fake paperwork, the BlackRock-focused media organization, BlackRock News, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that it has not registered an “iShares XRP Trust” fund. They added that the issue has been “escalated with the Delaware Division of Corporations.”
As we confirmed yesterday, BlackRock has not filed an iShares XRP Trust. We have escalated this issue with the Delaware Division of Corporations. https://t.co/IDlGhPjU7V— BlackRock_News (@BlackRock_News) November 15, 2023
Moreover, Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X that the filing is fake, as per his source at BlackRock. Balchunas also hinted in his recent repost that “someone out there is crapping their pants as we speak.”
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.. https://t.co/Xea226Q1vT— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 14, 2023
Further, the Financial Times calls the swift “12-percent-pump” a “dumb move,” as it means the DOJ is now on their case. The XRP price reportedly surged by 15% when word of the bogus filing got out, which came crashing back down right after.
Interestingly, a similar incident occurred previously involving an ETF submission impersonating Grayscale Investments. The fraudulent filing purported to be related to an ETF centered on Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Nahmii, using the same Delaware website. That bogus registration was also immediately squashed.
The post Delaware Alerts the DOJ Regarding a Fake Blackrock XRP ETF Filing appeared first on Coin Edition.