Ripple Ready To Disburse IDR 2.9 Trillion To Defend The SEC

JAKARTA - On Monday, May 8, 2023, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse, provided the latest information on the ongoing legal battle between the company and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a casual chat with CNBC at the Dubai Fintech Summit, Garlinghouse revealed that when the lawsuit is over, Ripple will have spent $200 million to defend itself from the securities regulator.

The Ripple vice president also argued that "from the start, people thought this lawsuit was unreasonable". The lawsuit was filed by the SEC in December 2020 alleging that Ripple and its founders, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, raised more than $1.3 billion through offering unregistered digital assets. Ripple, Garlinghouse, and Larsen argue that XRP is not a security.

Garlinghouse also commented on the United States crypto regulation which he considered sad. According to him, countries such as Dubai, Singapore, and Switzerland have determined clear regulations and will become global financial centers.

Unclear Regulations

This is different from the United States, which he thinks is far behind. He added that it was difficult for the United States to catch up because it was considered more concerned with politics than policies to develop the economy.

Garlinghouse highlights the lack of clear regulatory guidance from the SEC in regulating the crypto industry. SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, is considered to have taken an overly harsh approach in regulating the industry and often accuses that most crypto tokens other than bitcoin are securities.

He further stated that Gensler's decision to refer to all crypto tokens as securities is a form of coercion of power that prioritizes power over good policies in developing the economy.

According to Bitcoin.com News, Garlinghouse argues that although Ripple won the lawsuit, regulation in the crypto industry as a whole remains unclear in the United States and this could hinder the growth of the crypto industry.

The Ripple boss emphasized that the entire crypto industry needs regulatory clarity in the United States in order to develop properly. Ripple, according to him, has been involved in this lawsuit for two and a half years and must be made a decision within the next three to six months.