Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the SEC has finally pulled the plug on a four-year legal fight.
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Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, at Collision 2022 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo By Stephen … More
Sportsfile via Getty Images
RIPPLE CEO SAYS SEC HAS DROPPED ITS LAWSUIT AGAINST THE COMPANY
Brad Garlinghouse didn’t bury the lede. “It’s over,” the CEO of Ripple declared in a video posted to X on Wednesday, announcing the end of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s yearslong lawsuit against his company, the developer of the XRP Ledger and its native token. XRP surged 10% on the news.
The SEC sued Ripple in 2020, accusing it of raising $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering. In 2023, Ripple notched a partial victory: a federal judge ruled that XRP wasn’t a security when sold to retail investors, but was when sold to institutions. The agency appealed that decision, but according to Garlinghouse, it is now backing down. The SEC has yet to confirm it.
In recent weeks, the securities regulator has also dropped cases and investigations into Coinbase, Uniswap, Robinhood, OpenSea, Kraken and Consensys, as its newly formed crypto task force is working on a more “comprehensive and clear” regulatory framework for the industry.
TORNADO CASH REMOVED FROM SANCTIONS LIST
The U.S. Treasury has removed Tornado Cash, a crypto privacy tool, from its sanctions list, marking a major reversal in one of the most controversial enforcement actions of the Biden era.
The decentralized Ethereum-based mixer was blacklisted in 2022 after U.S. authorities linked it to more than $7 billion in laundered funds, including over $455 million allegedly stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The move effectively banned U.S. persons from using the service and sparked backlash from crypto advocates, who argued that targeting a smart contract, an autonomous piece of code, set a dangerous legal precedent.
Now, addresses associated with Tornado Cash have been scrubbed from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement on Friday the administration “remains deeply concerned” about North Korea’s “state-sponsored hacking and money laundering campaign” and would continue to monitor transactions that may benefit hackers.
The decision could impact the case against Roman Storm, one of Tornado Cash’s developers, who still faces charges related to money laundering and sanctions violations.
COINBASE IS IN “ADVANCED TALKS” TO BUY DERIBIT
The largest crypto exchange in the U.S. could soon acquire Deribit, the leading platform for bitcoin and ether options trading, according to Bloomberg. The companies have reportedly informed regulators in Dubai, where Deribit holds a license that would transfer to any buyer. If finalized, the deal would mark Coinbase’s most aggressive move yet into the booming crypto derivatives market, which has long been dominated by offshore players.
ELSEWHERE:
Crypto Exchange Kraken Strikes $1.5 Billion Deal For Futures Trading Business [The Wall Street Journal]
US SEC Holds Crypto Task Force Roundtable As Trump Plans Regulatory Revamp [Reuters]
Crypto VC Giant Haun Ventures Raising $1 Billion For Two New Funds Amid Trump-Driven Blockchain Boom [Fortune]
