The CEO of Ripple Labs says that the lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against him and his company over XRP “has gone exceedingly well.” He stressed: “This case is important, not just for Ripple, it’s important for the entire crypto industry in the United States.”
Ripple CEO comments on SEC lawsuit regarding XRP
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse discussed the SEC lawsuit over the sale of XRP during a fireside chat during the Paris Blockchain Week Summit on Thursday.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple, Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020 over the sale of XRP, which the securities watchdog said is an unregistered security offering. Ripple has disputed the SEC’s findings, insisting that XRP is not a security.
Garlinghouse shared:
The trial has gone extremely well, and much better than I could have hoped for when it started about 15 months ago.
However, he noted that “the wheels of justice move slowly.” In November last year, Garlinghouse said he expects the lawsuit to conclude this year. “We’re seeing pretty good progress despite a slow-moving judicial process,” he said at the time.
Earlier this week, a judge ruled that the SEC cannot edit the content of emails claiming to show conflicts of interest regarding the securities regulator’s handling of XRP and other crypto tokens, including including ether (ETH).
Ripple is growing despite the ongoing lawsuit, Garlinghouse noted. “We’re having record growth,” he remarked Thursday. In January, he said that Ripple’s valuation has risen to $15 billion, emphasizing that his company’s financial position is the strongest ever despite the lawsuit over XRP.
Garlinghouse further explained during the Fireside Chat that if Ripple loses the lawsuit against the SEC, most tokens traded on cryptocurrency exchanges would also be considered securities and would need to register with the regulator. “It’s a cost, it’s a friction,” exclaimed the executive, emphasizing:
If you determine XRP as a security of Ripple, we have to know every person that owns XRP … That’s an SEC requirement. You have to know all of your shareholders. It’s not possible.
“This matter is important, not just for Ripple, it is important for the entire crypto industry in the United States,” the exec said, noting that there is a lot at stake if the SEC classifies successfully XRP as a security. “That would be really negative for crypto in the United States.”
