Ripple CEO Criticizes SEC’s Use of Quarterly XRP Report in Lawsuit
The Chief Executive Officer of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, expressed his hatred for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 2, 2023. This was in response to the SEC’s use of Ripple’s quarterly XRP Markets Report as evidence against the company in a court action that is still ongoing at the time of this statement.
On July 31, 2023, Ripple gave a presentation entitled Q2 2023 XRP Markets Report. The report focuses on critical highlights, such as the important summary judgment ruling given by Judge Torres, clarifications on misconceptions, and statistics on Ripple’s XRP holdings, among other things.
Ripple’s XRP holdings increased from 5,506,585,918 to 5,551,119,094, which is equivalent to a gain of almost 45 million, although the total amount of XRP held in ledger escrow decreased by more than 1 billion. It’s possible that the rising demand for XRP is responsible for this shift in the market.
In addition, the attorney representing XRP, John Deaton, voiced significant opposition to the use of these reports as evidence against the company and its management in the ongoing action brought by the SEC. He was critical of the tactics used by the SEC, which he said were not consistent with those used by other businesses.
In the case of the Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple Labs, which was heard on July 13, 2023, Judge Torres delivered a finding saying that XRP is not deemed to be a securities. This decision was made public on July 13, 2023.
The business did, however, clarify that sales of XRP under written contracts had the potential to be classified as investment contracts and hence fall within the security categorization. Ripple Labs was the defendant in the litigation that led to this decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ripple also addressed concerns on its partial success by underlining the fact that even if XRP is not a security in certain contexts, it may still be considered as one in particular situations, and the verdict affords protection to sophisticated institutions but not to retail clients.
This was done in an effort to clear up any confusion that may have arisen as a result of the partial success that Ripple has had. Additionally, Ripple brought attention to the fact that the judgement does not provide a protection guarantee for retail purchasers.
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