Zinger Key Points
- The SEC has pursued Ripple since 2020, alleging unregistered security sales, with legal costs exceeding $150 million.
- The SEC's push to dismiss claims against Ripple executives may lead to an appeal, further extending the legal battle.
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Ripple XRP/USD is prepared to take its legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the XRP crypto token to the Supreme Court.
That's according to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, citing how the company has already spent over $150 million on legal defenses.
The SEC and Ripple have been wrangling in court since 2020 in a back-and-forth over whether the XRP digital token should be registered as a security.
This development comes just ahead of Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets conference on Nov. 14, where the future of cryptocurrencies and their role in the financial market will be a key topic of discussion.
“We’d love to see the Vegas odds on how that would go,” Garlinghouse told Bloomberg about the prospects of the Supreme Court eventually weighing in. “We are in it until the end,” he added but refused to rule out settling the case eventually.
The SEC recently requested the judge to drop the parts of its litigation directly against Ripple co-founder Christian Larsen and Garlinghouse.
However, the SEC may still appeal the judge’s decision more generally.
Crypto advocates argue that many digital assets don’t meet the standard laid out in a 1946 Supreme Court case that the SEC uses to determine whether an asset is covered by its securities rules.
They believe that the SEC or Congress should provide revised rules to account for the unique characteristics of the asset class.
In addition to Ripple, the SEC is also involved in high-stakes litigation with other crypto giants, including Coinbase Global Inc. COIN.
SEC chair Gary Gensler said he was “really proud” of the agency’s enforcement work in crypto, having brought roughly 150 crypto cases.
Michael Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, commented on the collapse of FTX FTT/USD and other crypto companies in 2022, stating, “You can’t underestimate the damage. We kind of as an industry blew trust, and so we are working hard to regain that.”
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