Ripple can do without XRP if firm loses “ironic” lawsuit – CEO Brad Garlinghouse
“We could do that. We’ve always thought about our product as ‘How do we solve a customer’s problem first and foremost?’”
Brad Garlinghouse, Chief Executive Officer at Ripple and one of the defendants in the SEC vs Ripple lawsuit, told CNN the firm could continue without XRP if need be.
Ripple CEO Garlinghouse said the firm is ready to march on without the XRP-based settlement platform if it loses the legal battle against the US regulator which claims XRP is a security and the firm illegally sold the cryptocurrency to investors.
“We could do that. We’ve always thought about our product as ‘How do we solve a customer’s problem first and foremost?’ And I think that has served our growth. It’s a reason why we have seen so much activity now, billions and billions of dollars of transactions across Ripplenet, our network for payments”.
Ripple continues to grow in partnerships across the globe despite the lawsuit with the SEC, he said. “The good news for Ripple we’ve signed over 20 new financial institutions around the world as customers since the SEC filed their lawsuit and I think we’re going to see the network grow very rapidly in non-US customers.”
Mr. Garlinghouse also called the lawsuit “ironic” as it is based on the premise that Ripple illegally sold XRP as an unregistered security, although the regulator says the courts will ultimately determine the status of the crypto asset.
“I find a certain irony that the SEC would bring a lawsuit against us because what they’re saying is not just that we should have known and we’ve acted in bad faith when the SEC themselves haven’t really said, well they know for sure that XRP is a security.
“In their own court filings, they said that the court will determine that, which of course, brings a contradiction that if the court’s going to determine that, how could I personally have known that the SEC would view XRP as a security”, he said.
Ripple CEO is hopeful ahead of new SEC administration
The SEC vs Ripple lawsuit could be reviewed by the regulator once Gary Gensler steps in to take charge of the Securities and Exchange Commission. That is the hope of Mr. Garlinhouse.
“I’m hopeful with Gary Gensler and the new chair likely to be confirmed in a couple of weeks. There’s an opportunity to have a conversation with that new leadership as he brings his team in”. Gary Gensler is said to be more open-minded towards cryptocurrency and he did make positive comments about Bitcoin in the past.
In the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit, the court has most recently rejected the SEC’s attempt to deny the motion put forth by XRP holders who asked to intervene. The motion will be filed as well as for responses from the SEC and Ripple.
The SEC argued that “if the Court permitted Movants to intervene, all other XRP holders, including a large class of XRP investors who has already sued Defendant Ripple Labs, Inc. (“Ripple”) for unregistered offers and sales of XRP securities, would likely seek to intervene, too. Intervention would thus create an “avalanche” of claims and “near-certainty of undue delay, complexity and confusion”.
FinanceFeeds has recently reported on Attorney Jeremy Hogan’s comments regarding a recent court session, where the Judge dropped a “bombshell”.
