Ripple CEO ‘Optimistic’ About SEC Lawsuit Over XRP — Says ‘I Feel Very Good About Where We Are’

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says that he is “optimistic” that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit over xrp “will certainly be resolved in 2023.” He added that it could even be resolved in the first half of this year. “I feel very good about where we are relative to the law and the facts, the Ripple executive said.

The CEO of Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, shared his view on the lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the sale of XRP in an interview with CNBC Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Noting that the judges will “take however long” they take, Garlinghouse said:

We’re optimistic that this will certainly be resolved in 2023, and maybe the first half. So we’ll see how it plays out from here. But I feel very good about where we are relative to the law and the facts.

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Garlinghouse, Ripple, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020 over the sale of XRP which the regulator claimed was an unregistered security offering. Ripple has maintained that XRP is not a security. Both the SEC and Ripple submitted their final round of briefs in December last year, seeking a summary judgment of the case.

The Ripple CEO said he expects a ruling to arrive “sometime in the coming single-digit months,” adding that he doesn’t expect Ripple to settle with the securities regulator.

“We have always said that we would love to settle, but it requires one very important thing, and that is that, on a go-forward basis, it’s clear that XRP is not a security,” Garlinghouse stressed, elaborating:

The SEC and Gary Gensler has very outwardly said he views almost all crypto as a security. And so that leaves very little space in the Venn diagram for settlement.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has said on several occasions bitcoin is a commodity but most other crypto tokens are securities.

Emphasizing the significance of the Ripple lawsuit’s outcome, Garlinghouse said Wednesday: “Something I’ve heard here in Davos repeatedly is how important this is, not just to Ripple … but also, really, the whole crypto industry in the United States.” He added: “I keep reminding people that outside the United States, crypto is still thriving, Ripple’s still thriving, and we should make sure we’re continuing to engage non-U.S. regulators as well.”

In a separate fireside discussion with CNBC, Garlinghouse opined:

From the beginning, I thought it was very clear that the facts were on our side, that the law was on our side … And I think as you have seen this play out, as you have seen the filings in the court, that the judge certainly is hearing our arguments.

Who do you think will win this case, the SEC or Ripple? Let us know in the comments section below.