Bitstamp

• David Schwartz, the CTO of Ripple Labs, generated significant excitement within the cryptocurrency community through a mysterious frog-themed social media post.
• Meanwhile, Ripple has unveiled a strategic partnership with Uphold, a Web3 financial platform, aimed at integrating Uphold's cryptocurrency liquidity resources into Ripple's cross-border payment ecosystem.

Ripple CTO's Cryptic Frog Post Sparks Enthusiasm and Speculation in Cryptocurrency Community

• The post featured a frog perched on a lily pad leaf, flanked by water lily flowers on either side.
• While seemingly innocuous at first glance, this image has triggered a flurry of responses and speculation from various cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
• The most vocal reactions came from the XRP and PEPE armies, two passionate groups of cryptocurrency supporters.
• XRP fans wasted no time in expressing their hopes that Schwartz's cryptic post would somehow lead to a substantial increase in the XRP price.
• The PEPE-themed X account, @xPEPENFT, celebrated Schwartz's post, stating that the Ripple CTO had finally "come to his senses" and shared "a bullish flag for frog lovers everywhere."

Ripple and Uphold Join Forces to Revolutionize Cross-Border Payments

• In related news, Ripple has unveiled a strategic partnership with Uphold, a leading Web3 financial platform.
• With the integration of Uphold's services, Ripple seeks to enhance and streamline its already impressive cross-border payments network.
• Pegah Soltani, the head of payments product at Ripple, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership and its potential to bring operational improvements to the company's offerings.
• Ripple, a global leader in providing innovative solutions for cross-border payments, currently operates in over 55 countries and has a presence in more than 70 markets worldwide.

Price Overview

• Data from the cryptocurrency price tracking website CoinStats indicated that the native token for the Ripple ecosystem, XRP, rescorded a slight 24-hour loss of 0.11%.
• Nevertheless, the remittance token’s weekly performance was still entrenched deep in the green zone, and stood at +14.71%.
• As a result of the latest price movements, the altcoin was changing hands at $0.55443 at press time.
• Price chart for XRP (Source: CoinStats)
  XRP also weakened against the market leader Bitcoin (BTC) throughout the past day of trading.

• Net income of $134 million for the first quarter 2023, income before tax and non-cash equity compensation of $163 million1
  Re-segmented financial reporting into three complementary operating businesses: Galaxy Global Markets, Galaxy Asset Management and Galaxy Digital Infrastructure Solutions
  NEW YORK, May 9, 2023 /CNW/ - Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. (TSX: GLXY) ("Galaxy", the "Company" or "GDH Ltd.") today released financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2023 for both itself and Galaxy Digital Holdings LP (the "Partnership" or "GDH LP").
• Our first quarter 2023 results are a validation of the investments we have made in our business to drive long-term growth and lead the evolution of the digital asset industry," said Michael Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Galaxy.
• Income before tax and non-cash equity compensation is not a standardized financial measure under the financial reporting framework used to prepare Galaxy's financial statements and might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers.
• Beginning the first quarter, Galaxy re-segmented its financial reporting into three complementary operating businesses: Galaxy Global Markets ("GGM"), Galaxy Asset Management ("GAM"), and Galaxy Digital Infrastructure Solutions ("GDIS").

• Prove Identity, Inc. (“Prove”), the leader in digital identity, today announced a partnership with Bitstamp , the world’s longest-running cryptocurrency exchange, to further strengthen its security and compliance controls while also expediting its user onboarding process.
• Prove will enable Bitstamp US users to streamline account openings and registrations while meeting the highest levels of compliance and security through its Pre-Fill onboarding solution .
• Powered by the Prove Identity Network (PIN), Prove expedites the digital onboarding process by pre-populating application forms with verified identity information tied to a phone number, while mitigating fraud through its patented, industry-leading identity framework.
• “As the longest-running crypto exchange serving millions of users, Bitstamp has always been fully committed to regulatory compliance and curtailing fraud on our platform,” said Thomas Hook, Chief Compliance Officer at Bitstamp USA.

• CHICAGO and LONDON, Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group , the world's leading derivatives marketplace, and CF Benchmarks , the leading provider of cryptocurrency benchmark indices, today announced plans to launch three new Metaverse reference rates and real-time indices, which will be calculated and published daily by CF Benchmarks, beginning January 30.
• They include the following:
  "As we continue to see a rising interest in Metaverse projects, CME Group, in partnership with CF Benchmarks, will expand its suite of regulated, non-tradable Cryptocurrency Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices to include three new Metaverse tokens," said Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products.
• CME CF Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices are based on robust methodologies that have regular expert oversight and are designed to meet the growing need for transparent, regulated and round-the-clock pricing.
• As with all existing CME CF Benchmarks reference rates and real-time indices, these new Metaverse benchmarks will utilize pricing data from those leading crypto exchanges and trading platforms that are current constituent exchanges for the CME CF Benchmark suite of reference rates and real-time indices.