Brad Garlinghouse, the Chief Executive Officer of Blockchain payments company, Ripple Labs Inc said its ongoing legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeing “good progress” not minding the slow judicial process.
As reported by CNBC, Garlinghouse said he believes the entire legal battle is likely to be closed next year. “We’re seeing pretty good progress despite a slow-moving judicial process,” Garlinghouse told CNBC’s Dan Murphy. “Clearly we’re seeing good questions asked by the judge. And I think the judge realizes this is not just about Ripple, this will have broader implications.”
Ripple was sued by the then-Jay Clayton-led SEC for violating securities laws as the firm was accused of selling unregistered XRP securities to investors in the US. Ripple has denied the claims made by the commission as it has maintained that the use of XRP in powering its operations is devoid of investor coercion and that the coin is used as payment utilities only.
Ripple provides payment infrastructures that let people transfer money from one person to another. Ripple has designed a number of products that are powered by the XRP coin, and the firm has been the primary body involved in helping build the use case around the cryptocurrency that is now worth over $48.8 billion in market capitalization.
The legal battle between the SEC and Ripple has impacted the growth of the XRP coin, as it has trailed behind the majority of the altcoins this year. Despite this stunted growth, XRP is up by more than 133% year-to-date according to data from CoinGecko.
Ripple Legal Battle: Highlighting the Need for Clear Regulations
The Ripple-SEC legal feud has highlighted the need for a clearer regulation as market watchdogs are intensifying their crackdowns on the cryptocurrency industry. Brad Garlinghouse singled out the United States as a nation with very ambiguous rules governing crypto.
While US regulators placed Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH) as commodities, the Ripple CEO has not been able to come to terms with the rationale behind tagging XRP coins as security. Per the CNBC report, Garlinghouse said the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland are examples of countries showing “leadership” when it comes to regulating crypto. Asian giants, China, and India have cracked down on the industry in a very concerning twist this year.
The move to explore regulations by various countries has been tagged as a very positive direction of travel by the Ripple boss. Digital currency trading platforms and firms offering a direct cryptocurrency service are scrambling to align with local regulations as many envisage a future where regional regulation will be a deciding factor on who rules the market/industry.
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