Ripple CEO Says SEC Is Planning to Sue The Company on Charges of Unregistered XRP Securities
On Monday, December 21, San-Francisco-based blockchain startup Ripple alleged that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to sue the company on allegations of selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP cryptocurrency.
There’s been a long-going debate already whether XRP holds the status of a ‘currency’ or a ‘security’ token. On Monday, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told The Fortune publication that he and his cofounder Chris Larsen will be named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Currently, XRP doesn’t hold the status of a ‘security’ and thus is not subjected to any scrutiny from the SEC. However, if the regulator files a lawsuit, it will follow years of debate between the company and the agency.
Earlier, the Ripple CEO had said that the upcoming Biden administration shall be friendlier to the crypto community. On the other, it has previously criticized the SEC for stifling innovation.
In the latest announcement, Garlinghouse also accuses the SEC Chairman Jay Clayton for cracking down on Ripple at a time when is supposedly going to step down out of the office in a few days.
The Ripple CEO said: “Clayton did this with one foot out the door. Rather shamefully, he has decided to sue Ripple, and leave the legal work to the next chairman. I think we have to stand up for all of crypto—and not let the SEC bully the entire industry. We’re going to be on the right side of history,” he added.
Well, the SEC bashing by Brad Garlinghouse didn’t stop here. Taking up to his Twitter handle, he added: “We know crypto and blockchain technologies aren’t going anywhere. Ripple has and will continue to use XRP because it is the best digital asset for payments - speed, cost, scalability and energy efficiency. It’s traded on 200+ exchanges globally and will continue to thrive.
The SEC - out of step with other G20 countries & the rest of the US govt - should not be able to cherry-pick what innovation looks like (especially when their decision directly benefits China). Make no mistake, we are ready to fight and win - this battle is just beginning,” he added.
Surprising in a document released by Ripple, it has mentioned Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as “Chinese-controlled”. Lashing out at Ripple, Ethereum co-founder Vital Buterin wrote: Looks like the Ripple/XRP team is sinking to new levels of strangeness. They're claiming that their shitcoin should not be called a security for *public policy reasons*, namely because Bitcoin and Ethereum are “Chinese-controlled”.
The latest news has pushed the XRP price below $0.50 on Tuesday. At press time, XRP is trading at $0.48 with a market cap of $21.8 billion.