TL;DR Breakdown:
- Ripple may be facing a lawsuit from the United States regulator, SEC, in the near future.
- The lawsuit, which is expected to name some of the execs as defendants, follows the long debate of XRP being security.
The long-standing debate on the status of XRP, the third-largest digital currency, as a “security” is heating up again, as the United State Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to bring up the case in the law court. Per Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, the regulator plans to file a lawsuit against Ripple, the blockchain company behind XRP.
Judging by the fact that the SEC views XRP like a share of stock, the lawsuit could be centered around the fact the digital currency was offered to investors without being registered with them, as required.
Ripple to face a lawsuit over XRP
The regulator had previously noted that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), the two most valuable digital currencies, are not securities. This goes down to the fact that they weren’t issued or controlled by any single company or individual; the issuance process is decentralized. However, Ripple oversaw the issuance of the 100 billion XRP, besides holding a substantial amount of the cryptocurrency.
The blockchain company had argued that they don’t control the cryptocurrency, saying that “the SEC regarding XRP as security controlled by Ripple is akin to viewing oil as security controlled by Exxon.” The lawsuit in question may be filed any time soon, as Garlinghouse reviewed during an interview on Monday. The suit is expected to name both Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen, the co-founder of the company, as defendants.
XRP price update
The cryptocurrency which has been trading since 2012, is trading at the price of $0.484 on Coinmarketcap. XRP currently has a market capitalization of over $22 billion, making it one of the largest cryptos just after Bitcoin and Ether.
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