Delaware’s
Department
of
Justice
may
be
investigating
a
fake
filing
Monday
that
suggested
asset
management
giant
BlackRock
(BLK)
was
prepping
the
launch
of
a
spot
XRP
exchange-traded
fund
(ETF).
The
filing,
which
still
appeared
on
the
Delaware
Department
of
State’s
Division
of
Corporations
website
as
of
2:30
p.m.
ET
on
Tuesday,
is
largely
identical
to
last
week’s
legitimate
paperwork
from
BlackRock
regarding
its
iShares
Ethereum
Trust
product.
That
filing
appeared
last
week
just
hours
before
the
company
submitted
an
application
to
U.S
regulators
for
a
spot
ether
ETF.
The
fake
XRP
filing
in
minutes
sent
the
token
higher
by
more
than
10%
before
a
BlackRock
spokesperson
told
CoinDesk
it
was
not
attempting
to
launch
such
a
fund.
A
spokesperson
for
the
Delaware
Department
of
State
told
CoinDesk
on
Tuesday
that
the
matter
had
been
referred
to
the
state’s
Department
of
Justice.
“Our
only
comment
is
that
this
matter
has
been
referred
to
the
Delaware
Department
of
Justice,”
the
spokesperson
said.
A
spokesperson
for
the
Department
of
Justice
did
not
immediately
return
a
request
for
comment.
Questions
have
risen
about
the
level
of
difficulty
for
filing
for
a
Trust
under
a
false
name
and
entity
and
the
verification
process
behind
it.
According
to
the
Delaware
website,
there
are
seven
steps
required
to
form
a
new
business
entity,
all
of
which
seem
to
be
able
to
be
done
by
filling
out
interactive
PDF
forms
on
the
website.
The
most
important
requirement
seems
to
be
that
an
entity
must
obtain
a
registered
agent
in
the
State
of
Delaware,
which
can
either
be
a
resident
or
a
business
entity
that
is
legally
allowed
to
do
business
in
the
state.
However,
it
seems
that
if
the
name
and
address
are
all
that’s
required,
it
could
easily
be
copied
from
another
filing.
In
this
case,
the
pretender
appeared
to
do
little
more
than
copy/paste
the
registered
agent
–
Daniel
Schwieger,
a
managing
director
at
BlackRock
according
to
his
LinkedIn
profile
–
from
the
legitimate
filing.