Garlinghouse Criticizes SEC’s Regulatory Approach
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has taken a swipe at Gary Gensler, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, for what he perceives as an unfavorable regulatory stance regarding cryptocurrency. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Garlinghouse criticized Gensler’s approach, accusing him of prioritizing the hiring of more lawyers for what he dubbed enforced regulation.
The Ripple CEO expressed concerns about the SEC’s legal actions against various crypto firms over the past three years, referencing the regulator’s lawsuits against Ripple, Coinbase, Grayscale, Binance, and Kraken. Garlinghouse argues that the SEC’s enforced regulatory approach is hindering the crypto industry’s growth in the United States.
Contrasts In Global Crypto Regulation
Garlinghouse opined that most crypto-related firms in the US are willing to comply with regulatory guidelines if clear rules are established. He pointed out that other countries, such as those in the European Union, have made significant strides in crypto regulation, adopting comprehensive rules for issuing, safeguarding, and trading cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
While applauding the progress in other regions, Garlinghouse criticized the lack of regulatory clarity in the United States. He also claimed that ChatGPT, a popular artificial intelligence chatbot, can gather enough insights to make better regulatory policies for the US crypto space.
He expressed his discontent with the US SEC’s slow progress in establishing a definitive regulatory framework for the crypto industry. Garlinghouse also pointed out that the US judicial system has been pushing back against the SEC, adding that the commission has overstepped its authority.
Despite regulatory challenges in the U.S., Garlinghouse asserted that crypto technologies are here to stay. The Ripple CEO contrasted the US’s prolonged delay in crypto regulatory clarity with the significant progress made by countries like the UAE, Japan, the UK, and Switzerland. He further argued that the delay is more politically motivated than focused on sound policy agendas.
Ripple CTO Opts for Ripple Shares Over XRP Tokens
Meanwhile, Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz recently disclosed his decision to receive Ripple shares instead of an XRP allocation. As of last September, Ripple held about 46.6 billion XRP, constituting 46.5% of the cryptocurrency’s maximum total supply of 100 billion tokens.
Within this vast amount, 5.258 billion XRP were spendable, while the remaining 41.3 billion XRP were held in escrow. Ripple follows a monthly release of 1 billion XRP from escrow, relocking 800 million shortly after.
With ongoing efforts to reduce its XRP holdings, Ripple has been selling off its spendable XRP balance, spending more than 890M XRP between July and September last year. At the time of writing, XRP trades at $0.5338 and is down 3% in the last 24 hours per Coingecko data.
Schwartz’s Response
In response to a query about the feasibility of Ripple burning its XRP escrow balance, Schwartz dismissed the idea, stating he doesn’t believe such an event would benefit XRP in any way. Meanwhile, a community member questioned whether Schwartz personally opted for Ripple shares over XRP allocation.
Confirming this, Schwartz admitted his preference for Ripple shares but acknowledged that he wasn’t sure he had made the right decision. He opined that his holdings would be more liquid if he had chosen XRP tokens instead.
