The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its charges against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen on Friday. The allegations were centered around XRP being unregistered securities, marking the end of a three-year legal battle that began in late 2020. Ripple's top executives labeled the SEC as a "rogue regulator" with a "political agenda."
Garlinghouse criticized the SEC for targeting their US-based "regulated business," which provides "blockchain infrastructure" for "cross-border payments," instead of focusing on "offshore exchanges" engaged in illegal activities. Due to the SEC's antagonism, Ripple had to move approximately 90% of its business and most of its Q3 2023 hirings offshore.
Larsen viewed the dismissal as a victory against what he called a "troubling attempt" to suppress crypto in America. He suggested that "politically connected special interests" influenced the lawsuit. The SEC has also laid charges against Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Binance; Coinbase for listing unregistered securities and operating an "illegal exchange," while Binance was accused of serious violations like co-mingling customer funds.
On Thursday, the SEC proposed a case dismissal to a federal judge concerning Ripple's top executives, planning to negotiate suitable remedies for violations associated with Ripple's unregistered institutional XRP sales. Ripple had been accused of misleading investors with over $1 billion in sales, but the verdict determined these weren't securities offerings. This decision caused a 6% increase in the value of XRP.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.