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Coinbase’s co-founder and CEO, Brian Armstrong, believes that Ripple is doing better than projected in its case against the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). He shared his sentiments through a tweet on October 26, saying the case has made the regulator realize that attacking the crypto sector is politically unpopular because such actions harm consumers.
In his tweet, Armstrong shared a link to a report offering updates on the case. The publication notes that the SEC sued Ripple and two of its officials in December 2020 without considering a potential backlash.
The Ripple case seems to be going better than expected. Meanwhile the SEC is realizing that attacking crypto is politically unpopular (because it harms consumers). https://t.co/ePLnbqNLwU
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 26, 2021
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As a result, Ripple’s legal team turned tables on the SEC, bringing it under trial in the pre-trial phase. Reportedly, the legal team pointed out that the financial watchdog has been issuing conflicting and confusing guidelines regarding crypto regulation.
Giving an example of such contradicting information, the Ripple team noted that William Hinman, the former Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, said Ethereum (ETH/USD) is not a security despite its business model resembling XRP’s, Ripple’s native cryptocurrency.
Through Hinman’s deposition, Ripple’s legal team sought to prove the SEC wrong for alleging that the firm and its two executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, engaged in an unregistered securities sale. With such small wins, Ripple has won over the crypto community, which believes this case will be instrumental in shaping the regulatory framework of the crypto industry.
XRP community requests Coinbase to relist the coin
This news comes after a group of XRP holders filed a motion to intervene in the Ripple and SEC case, claiming they incurred losses after the lawsuit’s effect saw leading exchanges, including Coinbase, delist the token. While this motion was denied, US District Judge Analisa Torres granted six movants an amici curiae (friends of the court) status earlier this month.
As amici curiae, the movants got a chance to offer opinions on specific legal matters in the case. The efforts of the six movants saw Armstrong question whether the SEC indeed seeks to protect crypto investors, considering the same investors were against it.
In a subsequent tweet, the Coinbase executive said,
The irony is that the people they are supposedly protecting are the ones attacking them.
With Armstrong declaring support for Ripple and its executives in the case, the XRP community urged him to have Coinbase relist XRP as his way of supporting the ecosystem.
Before this, Garlinghouse aired his opinions during the DC Fintech Week virtual conference, saying the SEC helped ETH edge out XRP (XRP/USD) as the second-largest crypto by capitalization. At the time of writing, XRP is down 8% over the past 24 hours to change hands at $1.02 (£0.74).