Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has shed light on the unjust legal battle his company faces against the SEC over XRP, revealing that Ripple has already spent $200 million defending itself. Garlinghouse anticipates a decision on the lawsuit within the next three to six months.
“If we win the lawsuit, it’ll be clear what XRP is, but the rest of the industry is still going to be unclear. And the whole crypto industry needs regulatory clarity in the U.S. to really thrive,”
– Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse
Ripple Labs’ CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, has offered fresh insights into his company’s ongoing struggle against the overreaching U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
During a fireside chat with CNBC at the Dubai Fintech Summit on Monday, Garlinghouse disclosed that by the time the lawsuit concludes, Ripple will have spent a staggering $200 million to defend itself against the aggressive securities regulator. The executive shared:
“With the SEC, we will spend — this is the first time I’ve shared this publicly — by the time all’s said and done, we will have spent $200 million defending ourselves against a lawsuit, which from its very beginning, people were like, well, this doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
The SEC, which many argue has overstepped its bounds, sued Garlinghouse, Ripple, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020, alleging they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering. Ripple, Garlinghouse, and Larsen have consistently maintained that XRP is not a security.
Addressing U.S. crypto regulations, Garlinghouse expressed disappointment, stating that as a U.S. citizen and CEO of a company that started in the U.S.: “It’s sad. I have sadness about this.”
Garlinghouse emphasized that other countries, such as Dubai, Singapore, and Switzerland, are outpacing the U.S. and will emerge as global financial capitals due to their regulatory clarity. “The U.S. is getting passed, not just a little bit, but by a lot … The tough thing about this is you have a country that, I think, put politics ahead of policies. That’s not a good decision if you’re trying to invest in the economy,” he stressed, adding:
You have video footage of the chair of the SEC, as a professor at MIT, saying 75% of these digital assets are commodities. And now he says they’re all securities because he’s the head of the SEC and he’s seeking power and he’s putting power ahead of sound policy to grow an economy in the United States.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has faced criticism for his enforcement-centric approach to regulating the crypto industry. His lack of clear regulatory guidelines has left companies in the crypto space struggling to ensure compliance. Moreover, Gensler has repeatedly claimed that most crypto tokens, aside from bitcoin, are securities.
In an interview with The National, published Monday, Garlinghouse expressed: “But even after the lawsuit, the U.S. needs to provide clear rules of the road and regulatory clarity. The lawsuit will help. Other countries around the world will be ahead of where the U.S. is in adopting blockchain technologies.” The Ripple executive noted:
If we win the lawsuit, it’ll be clear what XRP is, but the rest of the industry is still going to be unclear. And the whole crypto industry needs regulatory clarity in the U.S. to really thrive.
On the subject of Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC, Garlinghouse said: “One of the silver linings for Ripple is we’re at the end of our journey … We’re two and a half years into this lawsuit. We should have a decision pretty soon.” Garlinghouse estimates that a decision on the lawsuit could arrive within three to six months.
During the summit, the Ripple CEO also announced the company’s expansion in Dubai. “With 20% of our customers based in MENA [Middle East and North Africa] and clear regulatory regimes being developed, it’s no surprise that Dubai is emerging as a key global financial hub for crypto innovation to thrive,” he tweeted.
In conclusion, despite facing an unwarranted lawsuit from the SEC, Ripple and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse remain confident that they will ultimately prevail. With more regulatory clarity in the U.S., the entire crypto industry would be better positioned to prosper.
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