The Ripple case ends, but battle for regulatory clarity goes on

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently shared a video on Twitter to announce that his company’s long-running legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was finally coming to an end. However, rather than feeling sorry for the failure, Garlinghouse emphasized that the case only marks the beginning of a wider struggle for the cryptocurrency industry and the need for regulatory clarity.

The disappointing conclusion of the Ripple case: Brad Garlinghouse denounces the SEC’s bad faith

The case between Ripple and the SEC goes back to December 2020, when the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, alleging that the sale of XRP, Ripple’s crypto, violated U.S. securities laws.

Since then, Ripple has engaged in a fierce legal battle to defend itself against these charges, challenging in particular XRP’s classification as a security. This battle has lasted almost two and a half years.

On Friday, June 16, in a video posted on Twitter, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the Ripple case was finally coming to an end. However, the results don’t seem to be living up to expectations, which has left Brad deeply disappointed.

In his video, Garlinghouse didn’t hold back, sharply criticizing the SEC’s actions and calling them “bad faith, pure and simple”. According to him, the Hinman documents, made public on June 13, suggest that the SEC has deliberately sown confusion regarding the rules that should govern cryptocurrencies.

In addition, Garlinghouse was keen to stress that he had exhaustively answered all the questions raised by the SEC even before the complaint was filed. Never had it been suggested to him that XRP would be considered a security.

The fight for regulatory clarity must go on

In his statements, Brad also accuses the SEC of seeking to stifle innovation as well as the cryptocurrency industry in the US. According to him, the confusion deliberately fostered by the SEC has harmed not only Ripple, but also the entire cryptocurrency sector, which needs regulatory clarity to develop in a healthy and responsible manner.

Ultimately, regulatory clarity and consistency are essential to foster the development and growth of the crypto industry. Although the Ripple affair ended in disappointment, Brad Garlinghouse insists that the quest for clarity must continue.