According to U.Today, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has recently made a definitive statement regarding the classification of two major cryptocurrencies, XRP and Ethereum (ETH). During a fireside talk with Michael Arrington, founder of Arrington Capital at the XRP Las Vegas conference, Garlinghouse stated that neither XRP nor Ethereum should be considered securities. This statement aligns with the long-standing argument presented by Ripple and other stakeholders in the crypto community.
Garlinghouse's comments come at a critical time when regulatory bodies are scrutinizing the crypto market. His opinions have gained particular attention due to Ripple's ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Recently, reports surfaced of MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor speculating that the SEC may regard Ethereum, BNB, SOL, XRP, and ADA as unregistered crypto asset securities.
The debate over whether crypto assets such as XRP and Ethereum should be classified as securities has been a contentious issue within the cryptocurrency community for years. However, in July 2023, XRP gained legal clarity when a judge ruled in the Ripple lawsuit that XRP was not a security in itself, although certain XRP institutional sales were found to be unregistered securities sales.
A recent development in the crypto security debate occurred when Ethereum software company Consensys filed a lawsuit against the SEC. The lawsuit revealed that the SEC believes Ethereum is an unregistered security and has been conducting investigations on this premise for the past year. In response, Consensys sought a judge to declare Ethereum a non-security, in an attempt to preempt any future SEC claims.