The bad news for Ripple Labs, Inc. and its co-founders, Christian Larsen and Bradley Garlinghouse, continues. This time they are facing a lawsuit by one of their investors, following legal actions initiated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that qualify XRP as a security.
The investment firm Tetragon Financial Group filed the lawsuit on Monday, January 4, in a court in Delaware, USA. It requests that they be Series C shares redeemed obtained during a Ripple funding round carried out at the end of 2019, which reached USD 200 million.
Likewise, Tetragon asked the North American justice to be frozen liquid assets to Ripple until the company executes the payment that in their opinion corresponds to them. This is stated by the firm established in the United Kingdom.
Additionally, they asked for an expedited legal process and a temporary restraining order against Ripple, as reported by Bloomberg.
Faced with the demand, the Ripple’s response was swift. Yesterday the company issued a statement in which they claim to be “disappointed” by the action taken by Tetragon.
“We are disappointed that Tetragon is trying to take unfair advantage of the lack of regulatory clarity in the US. The courts will provide this clarity and we are very confident in our position,” says the document posted on its website.
Ripple also recalls that Tetragon can only opt for the return of its capital “if XRP is considered to be a security in the future.” Something that is yet to be determined.
It should be remembered that CriptoNoticias reviewed a few weeks ago that Ripple is accused of selling XRP for the purpose of financing company activities. The SEC considers that asset to be an unregistered security.
Ripple would raised at least $ 1.3 billion since 2013 for the sale of XRP. In addition, it would have used that asset to pay compensation, according to the SEC’s accusations.
XRP has suffered a more than 50% decline in value following the SEC’s lawsuit. Source: CriptoNoticias.
For its part, the company assured that it is “a dangerous lack of regulatory clarity” and that the lawsuit is not only against Ripple, but is “an attack on the entire cryptocurrency industry in the United States.”
The third cryptocurrency largest by market capitalization At the time of this writing it accumulates USD 11,000 million, according to data from Coinmarketcap. Its current value is $ 0.25, which represents a decrease of more than 50% from the high of $ 0.69 it recorded during 2020.
The SEC’s lawsuit also caused multiple exchanges to sidestep XRP, taking it off their platforms at the risk that this cryptocurrency could be considered illegal.
Among the exchanges that made that decision are: Coinbase, OKCoin, B2C2, OSL, Beaxy, Bitstamp, Galaxy Digital, Jump Trading, 21Shares, CrossTower. Coinbase, Bitwise, Binance, and eToro.
CritpNoticias also recently reported that a group of investors of the cryptocurrency XRP filed a petition in a North American court, for the complaint filed by the SEC against the technology company to be modified. They ask that their holdings in XRP not be considered as security.
In short, Ripple and the SEC already have a date for their first appearance in court, and it will be February 22, 2021 when they will hold a conference prior to the initial trial with Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District Court of New York.