Makes My Blood Boil! Ripple CEO Hits Out at Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton for Hypocrisy Over XRP

• • Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse calls out former SEC Chair Jay Clayton for hypocrisy in corporate litigation discussions.
  • Clayton initiated the lawsuit against XRP for securities violations before stepping down shortly after.

• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has criticized former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton for what he perceives as inconsistency in discussions regarding corporate litigation and the SEC’s role.
• Garlinghouse pointed out the irony that the nearly three-year legal battle Ripple faced over XRP securities violations was initiated by Clayton, raising questions about his regulatory stance.
• A key concern for Garlinghouse is the timing of Clayton’s departure from the SEC shortly after the Ripple lawsuit was filed. During a CNBC interview, Clayton criticized the current SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, for alleged abuse of power in the agency’s approach to enforcing actions against crypto firms.

Watching this clip makes my blood boil.

The hypocrisy is shocking. @CNBC @SquawkCNBC should be calling him out for the bullshit.

(As a reminder, jay clayton brought the case against ripple, me and Chris Larsen. And left the building the next day).

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 28, 2023

• Under Gensler’s leadership, the SEC has pursued legal action against notable platforms like Kraken, Coinbase, and Binance, accusing them of facilitating the trading of unregistered crypto securities, including assets such as Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Filecoin (FIL), and Decentraland (MANA).

Ripple Lawsuit Set a Precedent

• Despite other high-profile cases, Ripple Labs’ lawsuit, initiated by Clayton, is considered one of the most prominent legal disputes in the cryptocurrency industry in recent years. A significant turning point occurred in July when Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the programmatic sales of XRP did not constitute an investment contract.
• Furthermore, the SEC recently dropped the aspect of the lawsuit involving Garlinghouse and Ripple founder Chris Larsen. Experts suggest that the Ripple vs. SEC case has set a precedent for similar legal matters in the industry. However, certain institutional aspects of the case remain to be resolved in the upcoming weeks.
• As cases against Coinbase and Binance are still pending, there is growing anticipation that these firms may draw insights from the outcome of the Ripple case. This ongoing legal saga underscores the need for clear regulatory guidelines in the dynamic cryptocurrency landscape.