NFT boom, Ukrainian officials declared 46,000 BTC, SEC asked to withdraw lawsuit against Ripple

Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada declared cryptocurrencies worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Most of the digital money, in the amount of $252 million, was included in the declaration by Deputy Urbansky. Politician Anatoly Urbansky indicated 4,256 bitcoins and 4,256 Bitcoin Cash, which he bought in 2017, this amount is approximately equal to $307 million. He later stated that he purchased the cryptocurrency back in 2009, at the rate of $1. Well, it will not be difficult to check the date of transfer of bitcoin to the wallet in the blockchain. Deputy of the Dnipro City Council Vyacheslav Mishalov declared more than $1 billion in BTC, but then called these data incorrect and overestimated. Deputy Geo Lerosa owns 49 BTC ($2.8 million) and 356 ethers (more than $751 thousand). Vasily Mokan has bitcoin, ETH, LTC, XRP and NXT tokens for a total of about $15 thousand. Deputy Sergei Velmozhny declared 11,428 XMR ($3 million), which belong to his son. Several other  deputies indicated that they either own cryptocurrency themselves or their family members. The total amount of cryptocurrency declared by officials is 46,000 BTC. The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine is going to check the availability of these cryptocurrencies, as well as the sources of funds for their purchase.

***

A sharp increase in the number of transactions with cryptocurrencies has been registered in Russia. Holders of digital money have become more active in declaring all transactions, since the Federal Tax Service can track such actions even abroad. Russians have become more likely to withdraw cryptocurrency from the shadows and pay taxes from it. The trend is related to the law on digital financial assets, which was adopted last year. CSR notes that unregistered owners of digital assets do not fall under judicial protection. That is, any disputes over cryptocurrencies will be impossible.

***

The XRP price dropped below $1 again. Ripple's XRP has fallen below $1 after a three-year record high. This is evidenced by trading data. On April 8, XRP was trading at around $0.95. Cointelegraph attributed the fall in the price of the cryptocurrency to the fact that traders began to massively take profits at the target level at the peak of growth. The day before, the coin broke the $1.11 mark. The reason for the increase was that the SEC agreed to remove certain emails containing confidential information from its lawsuit against the company.

Also, recently there have been positive news that could affect the growth of the cryptocurrency. The company announced an agreement with technology corporations to "create a more financially inclusive" future. In March, Ripple announced the purchase of the Malaysian payment system Tranglo. More positive news: The SEC has been asked to drop the lawsuit against Ripple. Crypto & Policy founder Thomas Hodge launched a petition to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in support of XRP.

To date, it has already collected 1900 signatures. The petition is addressed to the candidate for the role of head of the SEC, Gary Gensler. Hodge asks him to stop the proceedings with Ripple when he takes over the post. Hodge claims that Clayton and Hinman had personal preferences among cryptocurrencies – bitcoin and ether – so they started a lawsuit against Ripple. If until recently the Ripple project became a kind of outcast, today the situation is radically different. The court demanded that the SEC explain and prove why XRP is a security. In addition, there were rumors and talk about relisting on Coinbase and other platforms that had previously delisted the token.

***

Fashion house Gucci and other brands will soon release their own non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs can be bought with credit cards without the need to purchase digital assets. Mixed martial arts fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov also announced the launch of a collection of digital cards in the form of NFTs dedicated to the completion of an athlete's sports career. There will be three types of cards – gold, platinum and a unique diamond. What the owners of gold and platinum cards will receive is still unknown, this will be announced later. Whoever buys the diamond card will be able to meet Khabib in person. TRON founder Justin Sun bought paintings by Picasso and Andy Warhol to turn it into an NFT. The total value of Pablo Picasso's "Femme nue couchée au collier" and "Three self portraits" by Andy Warhol is $22 million. The world-famous Playboy magazine will auction a collection of photographs in the format of non-fungible tokens (NFT). The first lot will include a collection of works created on the basis of archival images of Playboy magazine.