In 2020, the parent company behind the coin founded XRP, Ripple Labs Inc. sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulator found that Ripple had committed a criminal offense by selling XRP unregistered, which was recently partially debunked by Judge Angelina Torres. Ripple attorney John Deaton wonders what would have happened if the SEC had never indicted Ripple.
Removing XRP from Coinbase costs a lot
The price of XRP saw an incredible surge following Judge Angelina Torres’ ruling on July 13th. The SEC had sued Ripple Labs for claiming XRP is a “security.” In order to offer securities, a company must register with the SEC. However, Torres decided that XRP cannot be considered a security when sold on exchanges or via algorithms.
Ripple has thus won a partial right in the lawsuit. Ripple was found to have committed a breach when the company sold the coin directly to investors. However, this has not been the case for years. Deaton is therefore frustrated with the lawsuit and its progress.
In a thread on X (formerly Twitter), Deaton shared some photos. This includes a series of screenshots from crypto exchange Coinbase before the lawsuit. XRP has been praised on the platform’s website. However, following the lawsuit, Coinbase was forced to remove the coin from the platform. According to Deaton, this has cost Ripple many customers and caused significant reputational damage.
The point here is this: What could have happened regarding the launch of ? #XRP in the last 3 years if the lawsuit was never filed? 🤷♂️
Would Coinbase announce today that it has acquired a stake in Ripple? @Circle? 🤷♂️
But I know, despite Ripple’s continued and…
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) August 22, 2023
SEC appeal frustrated
Coinbase was recently created known to buy a stake in Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USD coin (USDC). Deaton refers to this in his post:
“Would Coinbase have announced today that it bought a stake in Ripple and not Circle?”
Attorney representing XRP investors in court believes the SEC used the lawsuit as a “weapon.” In his opinion, there was clear evidence that Coinbase had met with the SEC prior to the launch of XRP. Then the SEC gave the green light. Two years later, the regulator disagreed enormously when it filed a lawsuit against Ripple.
The contradiction in this frustrates Deaton enormously. What’s clear, he says, is that Ripple would have been at a completely different level of adjustment if the lawsuit hadn’t been filed. He is therefore very happy about the positive verdict. That may also be true for XRP investors who sold the coin at its peak in July. Then the currency rose by more than 60 percent.