- Ripple and the SEC have officially ended their legal battle with both parties dropping their appeals, allowing the company to shift focus toward innovation and growth under what they perceive as a more crypto-friendly administration.
- CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the “Gensler-SEC had been on the wrong side of the law” and credited the change in White House and SEC leadership for creating a more “pro-innovation” regulatory environment.
- The acquisition of Hidden Road for US$1.25 billion aims to make Ripple “the largest non-bank prime broker globally” – a deal Garlinghouse admits would have been impossible under the previous administration.
- With regulatory clarity established, Ripple plans to increase US hiring and customer acquisition, focusing on stablecoin regulation and market structure while leveraging XRP’s strengths.
The lawsuit between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finally behind us. While the SEC dropped its appeal in mid-March, Ripple recently also dropped its cross-appeal, as per Stuart Alderoty, the company’s Chief Legal Officer:
Alderoty said “That’s all folks!”, and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently added that they’re moving on from “the SEC’s war on crypto and entering the next market phase”.
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Gensler on Wrong Side of The Law, Says Ripple CEO
Garlinghouse spoke to Liz Claman on Fox Business’ The Claman Countdown and confirmed that Ripple and the SEC “agreed to dismiss and move on”.
The CEO also stated that the “Gensler-SEC had been on the wrong side of the law”, with its action against the San Francisco-based company. He argued due to a change in leadership in the White House and the SEC, the US is now on a “pro-innovation” path.
Two of the main topics currently on regulators’ minds, according to Garlinghouse, are stablecoin regulation and a “market structure bill”.
He said a common-sense approach by the Trump team – paired with the end of the Ripple vs SEC saga – also means the company can do more hiring in the US, something “that made no sense […] in a market where we couldn’t sign new customers”.
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Hidden Road Acquisition to Boost Ripple Profile
He also discussed Ripple’s recent acquisition of Hidden Road, a crypto-friendly broker. The move, a US$1.25 billion (AU$1.98 billion) deal, is not only one of crypto’s largest mergers, but will also expand Ripple’s US presence substantially.
Hidden Road clears as many as 50 million daily transactions worth US$10 billion (AU15.8 million). Garlinghouse said at the time that deals like the Hidden Road deal would allow them to leverage their “unique position and strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology”.
With the addition of Hidden Road they aim to “become the largest non-bank prime broker globally”, he added.
On the recent Claman episode, the host asked Garlinghouse if they would have gone ahead with the merger a year ago under a different administration.
The Ripple CEO responded, unsurprisingly that they wouldn’t have.
No. Hard No. […] An acquisition like that would have made no sense a year ago and it makes a lot of sense now.
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEOGarlinghouse alleged the previous administration wasn’t listening to consumers who clearly want to use crypto.
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