(Kitco News) - The collapse of FTX has inspired crypto exchanges across the industry to up their transparency game in a bid to reassure users that their funds are safe and accounted for. This has also provided the opportunity to peek behind the curtain to see what the most popular and widely held cryptos are, and some of the results may be surprising.
Despite being the subject of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for nearly two years now, XRP remains one of the top holdings for several exchanges including Coinsquare, Canada’s largest crypto exchange.
According to data provided by the crypto analytics portal Nansen, XRP is now the third-largest holding in Coinsquare’s treasury, comprising 16.67% of the total funds held by the exchange. Coinsquare’s wallets show that the exchange has a net worth of $124,047,422, which means that it holds roughly $20.7 million worth of XRP.
Not surprisingly, Bitcoin (BTC) ranks as the top holding for Coinsquare, comprising 47.51% of its holdings, worth roughly $59 million dollars. Ether (ETH) comes in second place, making up 32.05% of the exchange’s treasury, worth approximately $39.8 million.
After XRP, the fourth-largest asset held by the exchange is the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), which only accounts for 1.04%, or $1.29 million of its reserves.
The data provided by Nansen shows that several other exchanges also hold a large portion of their reserves in XRP. South Korea’s Korbit exchange currently holds 22.67% of its $240.4 million in total value in XRP worth roughly $54.5 million.
Norway’s Firi exchange also counts XRP as its third-largest holding, comprising 18.02% of its portfolio and worth approximately $13.74 million.
XRP vs. the SEC
The fact that multiple licensed exchanges hold a significant portion of their treasuries in XRP can be seen as a vote of confidence in the cryptocurrency and suggests that it will continue to prosper regardless of the outcome of the SEC lawsuit.
Both the SEC and Ripple Labs, the firm behind XRP, filed motions for a summary judgment in their case on Sept. 14. The court gave both parties until Nov. 30 to hand in their summary judgment documents, which will be made public five days later.
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| XRP spikes 15% after Ripple scores a legal victory in its case with the SEC |
According to a tweet posted by defense attorney and former federal prosecutor James K. Filan, both parties filed their summary judgment briefs early yesterday. Due to their early submittal, Filan suggested that the redacted replies could be filed as early as this Friday.
But that doesn’t mean that the case will settle anytime soon. According to attorney Fred Rispoli, it is unlikely that the SEC will agree to release the Hinman emails without a court order, which means that the case will not likely be settled until the end of January at the earliest.
“I don't think SEC settles until it "has" to. To me, that is most likely when (1) emails go public; (2) SEC experts are excluded; or (3) SEC loss at SJ. Looking like (1) is earliest possibility in late Jan/Feb '23,” Rispoli tweeted.
