Garlinghouse appeared on HBO’s Axios news series on the 8th (local time) and criticized the SEC’s action against Ripple with the management of Ripple, including himself, for selling unregistered securities.
In an interview, Garlinghouse maintained the argument that XRP is not a securities, referring to the situation. He argued that ownership of XRP and ownership of Ripple were irrelevant.
“Owning securities gives you ownership of the company, but XRP doesn’t. Even if Ripple disappears, XRP will continue to trade.”
Garlinghaus also pointed out that the United States is the only country in the world that claims XRP is a securities. “The UK, Japan, Switzerland and Singapore all have the clarity and confidence that XRP is not a securities. Indeed, the US is the only country on this planet that claims XRP is a securities.”
In mid-December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Garlinghouse CEO and co-founder Chris Larson, alleging that Ripple sold XRP, an unregistered securities.
In the aftermath of the lawsuit, the price of XRP plunged due to large-scale selling pressure, and the market capitalization, which had reached $27 billion, plunged to $9 billion. Since then, the XRP price has shown a recovery trend, and the current market cap is $21 billion, which is approaching the level before the lawsuit.
The two sides are currently engaged in legal battles, such as the Garling House and others filed a document requesting the SEC to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit last week, and the SEC refuted this.
Based on coin market cap data, XRP is trading at $0.48, a 3.0% increase on the afternoon, and its market capitalization is about $21.5 billion.