An apparently fake crypto filing put Delaware in the (internet) spotlight

This has been one of those weeks when people across the US — at least, crypto people — remember that Delaware exists.

And it doesn’t even involve President Biden’s whereabouts.

Apparently, BlackRock filed for an application for a spot XRP exchange-traded fund. It was confirmed on the Delaware Division of Corporations website. For 25 minutes, the price of XRP reportedly “surged” from $0.65 to $0.73 in response to the news.

That is, until it came out that the filing was false.

The price of XRP surged from $0.65 to $0.73 within 25 minutes after a tweet claimed that investment management giant BlackRock had filed an application for a spot XRP ETF in the state of Delaware, USA

— crypto shot news (@Anilp2pvakta2) November 14, 2023

Literally: “This is false,” a BlackRock spokesman told CoinDesk. Here’s the full rundown on what happened.

For its part, Delaware officials are reaching out to the Department of Justice to get to the bottom of it. Speculation suggests that it was a “bad actor” who “reverse engineered” the filing. If that’s the case, it appears to be a rare type of cybercrime that has been seen before, once.

It’s no Delabear or Elon Musk hearing, but what is?

Update: As of Wednesday, the filing has been removed, and the pot continues to stir.