Ripple celebrates victory, but the company’s legal battle with the SEC is not over yet.
In a major victory for cryptocurrency company Ripple, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dropped charges against two of the company’s top executives.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse of assisting the company in violating federal securities laws related to trading in the XRP cryptocurrency. But the regulator moved Thursday to voluntarily dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot refile the same charges.
While the SEC will continue to seek damages from Ripple, dropping the lawsuit is a major victory for the embattled cryptocurrency company.
"In all seriousness, Chris and I were targeted by the SEC in a ruthless attempt to personally destroy the company we, and many others, worked hard to build for over a decade," Garlinghouse said in a tweet in response to the dismissal of the charges.
The dismissal of the charges marks Ripple’s third consecutive legal victory against the SEC. In July, a judge ruled that the regulator had failed to clearly prove that XRP trading violated securities laws. In October, the SEC also lost an appeal seeking to overturn that decision.
Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty described the SEC’s motion in a tweet as “not a settlement” but a “surrender.” The abandoned lawsuit shields Ripple’s leadership from a trial scheduled for next year.
The dropped charges represent Ripple’s third consecutive victory against the SEC. In July, the court ruled that XRP trading did not violate securities laws. The SEC appealed in October in an attempt to overturn that ruling, but was rejected. Today, the regulator decided to drop the charges against Ripple’s leadership. #SEC #ripple
