Asset manager Blackrock (BLK) debunked a fake XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing that sent the token higher by more than 10% before the giving back those gains. CoinDesk Managing Editor of Global Policy and Regulation Nikhilesh De breaks down how some speculators amplified the phony filing on social media, presenting it as true. Plus, a closer look at and how Delaware's corporate registration process was abused.
You're not getting a lot of information with these corporate filings and uh the division of corporations website, right? You get the name of the product, the identification number for that, you know, Delaware's division of corporation signs, you have registered Asian information, which is just the name and address, uh the code, etcetera. There's really not much more information there beyond the name. And uh you know, anyone can put in the name of a registered agent. So in this case, it's the managing director at Blackrock whose name was basically copied over from the Ethereum filing. Uh not the Bitcoin filing that one has slightly different information. Uh But the, the filing had, you know, the same agent information, et cetera. Uh I think, you know, based on I I was going through the website last night, you can buy certain records that are not immediately published, but they also don't contain the original uh copies of, you know, whatever someone used to file. So, you know, as far as I can tell based on like just what's publicly available, you really can't tell like you have to, you know, either guess or hope that it was filed by the person who claimed to have filed it. Uh, but you can't really tell for sure. You can't see the original documents, you can't see the signatures or whatever. You can't see the email address that it might have been submitted by. Um, you can't really tell whether or not it is legitimate until you see confirmation or review from somewhere else.
Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to coindesk.consensus.com to register and buy your pass now.