Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse has stated that Ripple is open to settling the SEC lawsuit against Ripple, but will do so under one condition. His condition is that the SEC should clearly define the regulatory status of XRP.
In a Fox Business interview, Garlinghouse stated, “To the extent we can find a constructive path forward with the SEC, we, of course, want to find that. There’s no scenario though that we’re going to settle unless there’s absolute certainty about what XRP is on a go-forward basis. And it’s very clear that how Ripple is using these technologies, how many scores of other people in the community are using these technologies. They’re not securities. They do not represent an ownership in Ripple the company.” He further went on to say that the crypto industry is already significantly regulated. This statement comes in contradiction to what the SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler said. In a statement, The SEC boss stated that the cryptocurrency space is like the “Wild West.”
Garlinghouse went further to say, “I think we lose sight of the fact that crypto is regulated. It’s regulated by the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). It’s regulated by other government entities, whether its FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) and the U.S. Treasury. So when I’ve heard the SEC people come forward and say, ‘Hey this is the Wild Wild West. It’s not regulated.’ Well, that’s not entirely true… Previously, they (SEC) said Bitcoin’s not a security. ETH’s (Ethereum) not a security.”
What you should know
- Ripple has been in a court battle with the SEC for almost a year, in which the SEC has accused Ripple and two of its executives, CEO, Bradley Garlinghouse and co-founder and executive chairman of its board, Christian Larsen, of conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering.
- Even with the current lawsuit the company is facing, the company continues to run its regular day to day activities and meets up with its objectives and obligations. Ripple has been winning its case against the SEC so far. In its latest win, the judge denied the SEC access to Ripple’s legal advice.
- Ripple has also been stacking up its list of partners as the firm recently announced a partnership with Bhutan, a Buddhist kingdom on the Himalayas, to pilot the South Asian country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).
- Ripple’s native token XRP is currently up 1%, currently trading 96 cents.