SEC’s Lawsuit Didn’t Impact Ripple’s Business in Asia-Pacific Region

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple in a recent interview with Reuters had said that the ongoing SEC lawsuit against him and his company didn’t impact their business in the Asia-Pacific region, their key remittance corridor. Ripple has flourished as a remittance solution provider with the help of the XRP ledger and has partnered with hundreds of private and central banks across the world to facilitate instant cross-border transactions.

“It (the lawsuit) has hindered activity in the United States, but it has not really impacted what’s going on for us in the Asia Pacific. We have been able to continue to grow the business in Asia and Japan because we’ve had regulatory clarity in those markets.”

Despite the current issues with its operations in the US, the firm has continued its progress in the Asia-Pacific region, especially Japan.

The SEC lawsuit had quite a domino effect on crypto platforms and exchanges in the US who decided to delist XRP from their platforms until the lawsuit settles.

Ripple’s Key remittance partners in the US such as MoneyGram had also claimed that they have stopped using Ripple services for the time being. However, the fact that the majority of its business is located outside the US has helped the company to grow despite regulatory woes in the US. The CEO explained,

Ripple has signed more than 15 new contracts with banks globally since the SEC brought its lawsuit, and the lack of clarity in the United States has been a “hindrance” to innovation.

New Developments Give Ripple an Upperhand in its Court Battle

The SEC filed the class-action lawsuit against Ripple and two of its executives back in December last year that led to a delisting spree among US-based crypto exchanges fearing legal liabilities. However, some recent developments in the case that came before as well as during the first virtual hearing seem to have given Ripple an upper hand in the case. The first major development came in the form of an amended complaint where the SEC removed market manipulation claims from the lawsuit.

The second breakthrough came from the legal counsel of Ripple during the first court hearing where it was revealed that SEC ignored queries about XRP’s security status back in 2018-19 from major exchanges, which can put SEC in a spot. Also, the fact that major crypto-compliant nations such as Japan have cleared XRP trading could play in Ripple’s favor.

We’re looking forward to learning more about the SEC’s meetings with major XRP market participants who asked for guidance but were never told that XRP txns would be subject to the federal securities laws. Full filing here 2/2 https://t.co/lnzkQK7sX3

— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) March 5, 2021

Garlinghouse has even filed a motion to dismiss the recent amended complaint against him claiming SEC lacks clarity over regulations.