Ripple CEO points fingers at SEC
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been outspoken about the state of the cryptocurrency market and regulations. In recent months, there seems to be growing anger against the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s handling of Ethereum. During a virtual conference held by DC Fintech Week on October 21, the CEO of Ripple said that Ethereum had gained regulatory clearance, enabling it to surpass the value of the company’s xrp cryptocurrency.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States is looking into claims that Ripple’s cryptocurrency, XRP, is an unregistered investment vehicle. A request for information under the Freedom of Information Act was submitted by Ripple to the Securities and Exchange Commission in January, asking as to why the SEC did not consider Ethereum to be a security. Approximately six months later, in July, a district court granted the company permission to depose a former SEC employee who had previously said that ETH was not security in 2018.
Garlinghouse feels that his business has been unjustly punished due to Ethereum’s subsequent success, which is partly due to more friendly SEC regulations than in the past. He said that it has a negative impact on the market. He said that the cryptocurrency XRP has overtaken Bitcoin as the second most valuable digital asset in recent years. Following the revelation that ETH had received a clearance from the SEC, the stock soared, and the information provided help.
The effects he claimed SEC had on his crypto
XRP was the second most valuable cryptocurrency asset in terms of market capitalization as of late December 2017. However, the cryptocurrency has since dropped to ninth place, with Ethereum maintaining its second-place ranking.
Garlinghouse also said that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had taken a hard position against cryptocurrencies, as shown by recent actions against his business and cryptocurrency exchange coinbase. In reaction to Ripple’s legal battle with the financial regulator, he said that the SEC has failed to do so despite the SEC’s claims to protect consumers. He said that there are nearly 50,000 US citizens who hold XRP and who are suing the SEC for failing to protect their investments. According to a recent ruling by a US District Court, individuals who possess the company’s XRP cryptocurrency cannot be listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
Court's rulings
This week, the SEC was granted by a court judge, its request to extend the date for completing discovery in its ongoing case against Ripple Labs and its executives, and the new deadline is now January 14, 2022. Ripple argues that any further delay in the resolution of this case would be harmful to the interests of the defendants and holders of XRP. Even while the court acknowledged this, it said that the SEC’s request for more time would not affect the timeline for resolving the case.
