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WeBlogs Founder Jason Calcanis, who also doubles as an angel investor with a large Twitter following, made controversial statements about the XRP cryptocurrency yesterday, calling it a security. Calcanis’ opinions of the native digital currency associated with the Ripple company caused a stir of reactions from the crypto community, earning responses from the likes of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton.
Earlier this week, Garlinghouse was featured as a keynote speaker at the Dubai 2023 Fintech Summit and used the platform to talk about the internal costs of the ongoing legal battle with the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
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The CEO’s statements on the monetary costs of the Ripple-SEC legal battle were seen to be the origin and factor driving Calacanis’s controversial remarks.
XRP is obviously a security
It would have cost little for the Ripple team to have registered it as a security and played by the rules —- like everyone else in the industry does all day long $xrp pic.twitter.com/Yxga686tBZ
— @jason (@Jason) May 9, 2023
XRP Not A Security, CEO Defends
The heated legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) began when the US regulator accused the company of selling XRP in an unregistered security offering. While the company has made countless efforts over the years to debunk this claim, CEO Brad Garlinghouse mentioned at the Dubai Fintech Summit that Ripple will have spent $200 million fighting the SEC lawsuit.
On making this statement at the summit, Weblogs founder Jason Calcanis took to his official Twitter handle, saying, “XRP is obviously a security,” and it would have cost little for the team at Ripple to have registered it as a security and played by the rules just like everyone else in the industry does all day long.
The tweet by Calcanis was met with counter comments and opinions from top players in the crypto industry, including Garlinghouse.
The Ripple boss responded to Calcani’s tweet calling it wrongful and an embarrassment as there is no framework to register digital assets in the US.
remind me when you learned securities law?! This is embarrassing for you (and hilariously wrong as there is no framework to register digital assets in the US), but we're all used to you making controversial statements and trolling about things you know nothing about…
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 9, 2023
Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton also chipped in comments in defense of the cryptocurrency by saying that claiming Ripple sold XRP as a security is quite different from being a security itself.
Deaton responded to Calcanis, saying, “XRP is a line of code inside software. How do you register? ‘to have registered it as a security and played by the rules like everyone else.’ Where did ETH, ADA, ALGO, XLM, etc. register?” Deaton countered.
Ripple Remains Undeterred
Ripple continues to persevere amid crypto regulatory uncertainties in the US and speculations about when a ruling will finally come in their legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As stated earlier, Garlinghouse mentioned the large sum of $200 million spent defending the company against the SEC lawsuit, which shows their commitment to emerging victorious.
Related Reading: XRP Price Prediction: Ripple Plunges to $0.42: Can Bulls Save the Day?
Also, a major highlight from the Dubai Fintech Summit was an announcement by Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse on the company’s expansion in Dubai, as the country offers reasonable crypto regulations and operational guidelines.
At press time, XRP price experiences a decline observed across the global cryptocurrency markets.
XRP prints a 5th bearish candle on the daily timeframe | Source: XRPUSD on TradingView.com