The public and press have only heard the story from the SEC’s side, and we’ll be filing our response in a few weeks to address these unproven allegations against Ripple.
The SEC’s decision to file this action is not just about Ripple, it is an attack on the entire crypto industry here in the United States. We’ve always said that there is a dangerous lack of regulatory clarity for crypto in the U.S. — their lawsuit has already affected countless innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to Ripple. It has also needlessly muddied the waters for exchanges, market makers and traders. The SEC has introduced more uncertainty into the market, actively harming the community they’re supposed to protect. It’s no surprise that some market participants are reacting conservatively as a result.
In the meantime, Ripple will continue to operate and support all products and customers in the U.S. and globally. The majority of our customers aren’t in the U.S. and overall XRP volume is largely traded outside of the U.S. There are clear rules of the road for using XRP in the UK, Japan, Switzerland and Singapore, for example. For eight years, we’ve built products that help hundreds of customers solve pain points around global payments — we will defend our company and look forward to settling this matter in court to finally get clarity for the U.S. crypto industry.
On a parallel note, we also look forward to working with all of the Commissioners and the SEC’s new leadership, once appointed. In all, the SEC Chair, six of his Directors from each SEC Division, the SEC’s Chief Economist and the SEC’s General Counsel have now departed (many left just last week). Our steadfast commitment to constructive regulatory engagement has not changed.