TL;DR Breakdown:
- Brad Garlinghouse said Ripple has been making good progress in the ongoing case with SEC.
- He expects the case to be concluded in the coming year.
The blockchain payment network Ripple has been in a legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the class of its native cryptocurrency XRP, the seventh-largest digital currency. However, the case is likely to reach a conclusion in the coming year, according to CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
Ripple is “making progress”
Ripple’s SEC lawsuit had been going on since December last year. The regulator argued that XRP is a security and that the blockchain company issued $1.3 billion worth of XRP without registration. However, Ripple countered SEC’s claim, saying that the token doesn’t qualify as a security.
Although the judicial process has been moving slowly, Garlinghouse believes the case will be closed in the coming year. He admitted that the blockchain company has been making “pretty good progress” in the ongoing lawsuit.
“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,” Garlinghouse told CNBC’s Dan Murphy.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also made a similar statement in October. He mentioned that the SEC v Ripple case seems to be going better than expected. According to him, the regulator is starting to realize that fighting against cryptocurrency is “politically unpopular (because it harms consumers).”
XRP market update
The price and market capitalization of XRP was brutally affected when the SEC made the announcement about suing the blockchain company. Many people had termed XRP “dead” due to the incident. However, it debunked the FUDs and managed to recoup all the losses amidst the lawsuit.
Now, as the seventh-largest crypto asset, XRP has a total market cap of more than $48 billion. It was trading at $1.04 during the time of writing.
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