WeBlogs founder, Jason Calcanis, who also functions as an angel investor with a large Twitter following, made controversial statements about the cryptocurrency XRP yesterday, calling it a security. Calcanis’ opinions about Ripple, the company associated with the native digital currency, stirred up attention in the crypto community and elicited responses from people like Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton.
Earlier this week, Garlinghouse spoke at the Dubai 2023 Fintech Summit as the keynote speaker and used the platform to address the internal costs of the ongoing legal battle with the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
The CEO’s remarks on Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC were seen as the origin and factor for Calacanis’s controversial statements.
XRP is a security, obviously. It would have cost Ripple team little to register it as security and play by the rules like everyone else in the industry does all day. $xrp pic.twitter.com/Yxga686tBZ
— @jason (@Jason) May 9, 2023
The heated legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started when the U.S. watchdog accused the company of selling XRP as an unregistered security offering. Despite the company’s countless efforts over the years to disprove this claim, CEO Brad Garlinghouse mentioned at the Dubai Fintech Summit that Ripple will have spent 200 million USD in fighting the SEC lawsuit.
When he made this statement at the summit, Weblogs founder Jason Calcanis used his official Twitter handle to say, “XRP is obviously a security,” and it would have cost Ripple team little to register it as security and play by the rules like everyone else in the industry does all day.
The tweet from Calcanis received counter-comments and opinions from top players in the crypto industry, including Garlinghouse.
The Ripple CEO responded to Calcanis’s tweet, calling it illegal and embarrassing because there is no framework for registering digital assets in the U.S.
Remind me when you learned security law?! This is embarrassing for you (and incredibly wrong given there is no framework for registering digital assets in the US) but we are all used to you making controversial statements and trolling about things you don’t know…- Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 9, 2023
Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton also came to the cryptocurrency’s defense, claiming that Ripple’s sale of XRP as a security is distinct from XRP itself being a security.
Deaton replied to Calcanis, saying, “XRP is a line of code within the software. How does one register that? ‘Registering it as a security and playing by the rules like everyone else.’ Where have ETH, ADA, ALGO, XLM, etc., been registered?” Deaton countered.
Despite the uncertainties surrounding cryptocurrency regulations in the U.S. and speculation about when a judgment in their case with the Securities and Exchange Commission will finally come, Ripple remains steadfast. As mentioned earlier, Garlinghouse mentioned the substantial sum of 200 million USD that has been spent defending the company in the SEC lawsuit, which shows their commitment to emerging victorious.
A major highlight of the Dubai Fintech Summit was also an announcement by Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, about the company’s expansion into Dubai, as the country offers adequate crypto regulations and operating policies.
At the time of publication, there is a decline in the XRP price observed across global cryptocurrency markets.
