Tag: Brad Garlinghouse

Ripple’s CEO Discloses to Spend over $100m Fighting Legal Battle with SEC

by Blockchain News

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, has disclosed the cost implications of its legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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In a recent interview, Garlinghouse disclosed that Ripple would have spent more than $100 million as payments for legal fees by the end of the case. However, the CEO said the expenses are worth it.

Garlinghouse indicated the SEC is exploiting the inability of firms to pursue a legal battle with the regulators because of the cost. He said the regulators use this to corner the firms into signing a settlement. In his words, “the SEC threatens companies into settlement because they can’t afford to fight.”

Furthermore, Brad also explained Ripple’s reasons for pursuing the legal route rather than the common practice of settlement by other firms.

He said the regulators have always benefited from the high cost associated with legal battles against the firms. And as such, this was important not only for Ripple but also for the industry. Ripple is requesting that the regulator spells out its regulations for the industry.

Implications of the prolonged SEC vs Ripple legal battle 

The SEC versus Ripple is one closely followed by many in the crypto community as it waits to see on whose side the pendulum will swing.

The verdict on the case has far-reaching consequences on the developing crypto space. And as such a win for Ripple is a win for the crypto community.

Should the verdict go in favour of Ripple, the regulators will be forced to provide clearer guidelines for the nascent ecosystem.

However, a loss for Ripple would give the SEC the backing to continue clamping down on industry players. Such firms will be pressured into reaching a settlement rather than pursue a legal battle with the regulators.

Both parties are carefully making their moves to win the case. The SEC continues gathering information and regulatory laws worldwide to build its case. On the other hand, Ripple has requested the court to bring back the SEC’s ex-chair, Bill Hinman. Hinman’s previous statements concerning Ethereum being a commodity adds value to Ripple’s case.

Earlier in June, Ripple recorded its first win. Judge Sarah Netburn rejected a request by the regulator for attorney-client privilege regarding documents containing Hinman’s statement.

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Ripple to Explore IPO after SEC Lawsuit, CEO Discloses

by Blockchain News

Blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs Inc might be battling a lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but it is in no way losing focus on what the future holds.

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In an interview with CNBC, Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse has confirmed that the firm will consider moves to float its Initial Public Offering in the US when it is done with the SEC.

“I think we want to get certainty and clarity in the United States with the U.S. SEC. You know, I’m hopeful that the SEC will not slow that process down any more than they already have,” Garlinghouse told CNBC during the World Economic Forum in Davos. “But you know, we certainly are at a point in the scale, where that is a possibility. And we’ll look at that once we’re past this lawsuit with the SEC.”

Garlinghouse said he hopes the SEC will not impede its speed when it wants to push for the public listing as it has done through the legal battle that has lasted well over 12 months. The plans to go public have long been in the works for Ripple as it looks to thread similar paths as Coinbase Global Inc which made its public debut back in April 2021.

While Garlinghouse is optimistic the ongoing legal brawl will be concluded this year, and hopefully, in the firm’s favour, the entire plan of an IPO is an ambitious one amidst a largely bearish market.

While Ripple Labs operates with the aid of the XRP coin which helps in facilitating cross-border transactions, it said the bulk of its business is dominated outside of the US, and the slump of the XRP coin in recent times, fueled in part by the SEC lawsuit has not impacted its overall productivity. Garlinghouse said it increased its On-Demand Liquidity transactions which totalled $8 billion this quarter versus $1 billion in the same period last year.

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Ripple CEO Brad Garlingouse Speaks Against Bitcoin ‘Tribalism’

by Blockchain News

While many may consider the unwavering support from Bitcoin “Maximalists” like MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor and Block Inc’s Jack Dorsey, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes the culture of “Tribalism” in which some people support one digital asset only is dragging the growth of the cryptocurrency industry.

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“Polarization isn’t healthy in my judgement,” Garlinghouse said, speaking in an interview with CNBC at the Paris Blockchain Week Summit. “I own bitcoin. I own ether, I own some others. I am an absolute believer that this industry is going to continue to thrive.”

For an industry that began more than 13 years ago with Bitcoin, there has been a lot of evolution, with more than 18,900 diverse cryptocurrencies summing up to about $2 trillion in market capitalisation per data from CoinMarketCap. Amidst this diversity, Garlinghouse believes every digital asset has a specific solution it brings to the table, and these differences should be appreciated.

“Yahoo could be successful, and so could eBay … They’re solving different problems,” he said. “There’s different use cases and different audiences and different markets. I think a lot of those parallels exist today.”

The Ecosystem and the Ripple Backing Against SEC

While Garlinghouse’s company, Ripple, is closely associated with the XRP coin, which it uses for cross-border payments and general cash transactions, his claims that he has a divergent interest in a number of digital currencies is a position that is markedly different from a number of leaders in the ecosystem.

For Garlinghouse, the fragmentation in support is one of the reasons why the entire industry has a little representation in Washington, a reference he made to showcase how low the number of crypto-friendly lawmakers are in both the Senate and the House.

Despite the fragmentation that Garlinghouse observed, the broader crypto community has rallied in support of Ripple, which is currently in a heated legal tussle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the sale of XRP tokens as security. Despite Garlinghouse’s stance, changes to the maximalist mindset is a culture that will take time to change.

Image source: Brad Garlinghouse Twitter

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Ripple announces $200M share buyback and expresses optimism for 2022

by Cointelegraph

Blockchain payments firm Ripple has announced a $200 million Series C share buyback, a decision that will take the San Francisco-based tech firm to a record-high valuation of $15 billion.

Back in December 2019, Ripple raised $200 million in a Series C funding round with Tetragon Financial Group, a United Kingdom-based investment firm, acting as the lead investor alongside other participants SBI Holdings and Route 66 Ventures.

However, in December 2020, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a $1.3 billion-dollar financial lawsuit against Ripple Labs, as well as co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse; accusing the parties of using the native XRP token as an unlicensed digital asset security.

Intent on disassociating themselves with Ripple amid their high-profile and openly public lawsuit, Tetragon sued Ripple in early January 2021 in the Delaware Chancery Court, seeking to enact their contractual obligation of a buyback clause to the value of their undisclosed investment sum.

However, just three months later in April, the court ruled in favor of Ripple and against the plaintiff, Tetragon, putting an end to the financial dispute.

In choosing to willingly purchasing the shares from Tetragon, SBI Holdings and Route 66 Ventures, it implies that Ripple is seeking to enhance their financial strength, a sentiment which Garlinghouse eluded to in a recent tweet thread.

“Even with 2021’s headwinds, it was our best year on record”, he stated, alongside revealing that their $1 billion bank balance position places them in the “strongest we’ve ever been.”

Alongside the news of buyback and valuation, Garlinghouse also shared optimism for the future of RippleNet and Ripple X, the latter of which is posed to enhance the utility of the XRP Ledger in an array of emerging sectors, including nonfungible tokens, central bank digital currencies, as well as interoperable, multi-chain functionalities, among others.

Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple for comment but did not receive a response at publishing time.