In its upcoming battle against the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ripple will see no support from some of the mainstays of the crypto lobby. Jerry Brito, the Coin Center’s executive director, made it clear Tuesday that his organization will not oppose the notion that XRP is a security.
In response to a question about Coin Center’s work to keep XRP out of the SEC’s purview, Brito published two articles in which Coin Center argued why Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities before pointing out the lack of such a posting for Ripple:
Here is a post where we argue that Bitcoin is not a security: https: //t.co/RA3Ka4Mu6m
Here is a post where we argue that Ethereum is not a security: https: //t.co/GTxWe4ppjQ
You won’t find a similar post for Ripple. We have nothing to say about it.
– Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) December 22, 2020
Coin Center is a non-profit advocacy and research group that supports the development of a crypto-friendly public policy. The organization started advocacy work related to Bitcoin in 2014.
Ripple has been fighting the SEC for years over whether XRP is a security that should fall under the jurisdiction of the federal securities regulator. Although Ripple has tried to differentiate itself from XRP, it holds more than half of the total token supply. Many argue that XRP meets Howey’s test, which views securities as any type of investment where profits are dependent on the work of a third party.
The SEC’s pending lawsuit against Ripple was announced by CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who reached out to Twitter late Monday to assess public opinion.
Today the SEC decided to attack crypto. Chairman Jay Clayton picks the winners in his final act and seeks to limit US innovation in the crypto industry to BTC and ETH. (1/3) https://t.co/r9bgT9Pcuu
– Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) December 22, 2020
The price of XRP has been in freefall since Garlinghouse decided to make the alleged lawsuit public. The third largest cryptocurrency by market cap fell below $ 0.50 and saw a double-digit percentage decline.
According to Garlinghouse, getting a security designation from the SEC isn’t the end of the world for Ripple or XRP. He told the Pomp Podcast last month that “over 90% of RippleNet customers are outside of the US.”
However, such a designation would require U.S. investors to complete broker-dealer registration with the SEC in order to hold XRP, which is a potential barrier to adoption.
