The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, said the US Security and Exchange Commission has no case against Ripples. In December 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for an alleged crime that Ripple sold unregistered XRP (Ripple’s native token).
Brad dismissed the allegation made by the SEC against his company. The CEO said that the SEC has a complicated case to prove against Ripple. He noted that from the onset, US SEC had no issue with the sales of XRP but surprisingly made a turn against it recently.
In his words, I have always been to the SEC headquarters and to chairman Clayton’sClayton’s office, too; I also communicate with most of the SEC commissioners. None has ever criticized what we do. None of them has ever suggested XRP is a security. But maybe after an afterthought, they came up and said, hey, we think XRP is a security. By all standards, that is a complex argument to make.
However, Brad expressed feelings that the court might decide on the lawsuit in the near future. He said that the case is still in progress. Today was the last day for the presentation of expert dispositions and testimonies. As a result, the court is expected to decide on the lawsuit very soon and not later.
I Fear there is a Lack of Knowledge on How Crypto Works
Regrettably, people lack the requisite knowledge and information on how cryptocurrencies work. According to Brad Garlinghouse, Gary Gensler (SEC commissioner) has continued to criticize crypto on the premise that it is a wild west. Crypto is not what Gary thinks of it. Though bad actors are committing a crime in the space, these fraudsters are not only limited to the crypto industry; they are in all sectors.
The Ripple boss expressed fears that financial regulators and even government officials lack knowledge and information of the mechanisms of cryptocurrencies. Gary said that it is quite unfortunate that the immaturity in the understanding of crypto by the SEC is at the disadvantage of most companies in the crypto industry.
Further commenting on the above issue, Brad Garlinghouse noted with disappointment that SEC’s lack of knowledge of how crypto runs is a massive disservice to many law-abiding crypto companies such as Ripple. The latter are in close communications with the government. As the issuer of XRP, the Ripple company strictly implements financial policies the law permits; hence, the SEC sanctions and lawsuits against it are hugely inconsequential.
There Should be no Different Standards for the Crypto Industry
Last week Senator Elizabeth Warren called for strict scrutiny of the cryptocurrencies. She fears Russia may use it as an escape route for all the sanctions against it from the US, EU, NATO, and other concerned nations. In reaction to the senator’s statement, Brad noted no different ways to play the game in the financial market. In those sanctioned areas or countries, residents can still use PayPal, MasterCard, Visa and others to make payments locally and internationally. Because of that, they too shouldn’t be treated differently.
