It has been quite a year for the blockchain platform Ripple. While its saga with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is far from over, the CEO Brad Garlinghouse is positive about how 2021 turned out for Ripple.
Ripple’s Garlinghouse Reflects on the Past Year
Filed on 22 December 2020, the SEC v. Ripple case is a regulatory riddle. It has been exactly one year since the US authority filed the lawsuit accusing Ripple of violating security laws. The crypto industry is still waiting for an end. In a series of tweets, Garlinghouse reflected upon SEC’s actions and stated that this was an attack on not just Ripple, but to stifle crypto innovation.
“Of all the shitty things in 2020, this was certainly one to cap the year Rolling on the floor laughing. But what I said then remains (painfully) true today: this is an attack on crypto in the US, not just Ripple. Some took the SEC’s allegations at face value/ thought this was a one-off, but no longer”
While revisiting the legal dispute, the CEO turned the spotlight on the ODL performance in the third quarter of the year. Notably, Ripple had earlier revealed seeing significant growth and traction of On-Demand Liquidity as transactions surged by a good 130%.
Garlinghouse also mentioned the developments of ODL corridors like Japan and UAE and its central bank digital currency (CBDC) solution powered by a private version of the public XRPL joining forces with Bhutan and Palau. He stressed that all these developments were not home-grown. In fact, the growth originated from other parts of the world.
The Tussle Continues
Garlinghouse went on to acknowledge 2021 as a watershed year for the entire space, where calls of “acceptance and awareness of the opportunity” to include billions of people into the global financial community grew stronger.
Once again, the exec pointed out SEC’s double standards and the legal status of Ethereum. Ripple had previously questioned why XRP sales were deemed illegal when the asset is no different than industry heavyweights such as Ethereum and Bitcoin.
The battle is going to be a long one. But Ripple CEO and general counsel Stuart Alderoty had opted to fight the case in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion rather than settling. From onboarding a team of legal talent and some excellent lobbyists, it seems Ripple is in no mood of backing down, and there is more to unravel as the case heads for a second year.
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