One of Ripple Labs’ largest financial backers lost its bid to reclaim its $175 million investment in the blockchain company.
A Delaware court denied the multi-billion asset manager Tetragon Financial Group’s request to redeem its Ripple equity for cash in the midst of an ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
U.K.-based Tetragon filed suit in January to reclaim its portion of the $200 million Series C financing of the blockchain company it led in 2019. The suit also aimed to freeze Ripple’s liquid assets until it paid up. Now it appears Ripple won’t have to, with a Delaware Chancery Court judge on Friday rejecting the plaintiff’s case.
Ripple called the lawsuit meritless at the outset, saying at the time Tetragon only had a case if the SEC determined XRP to be a security. The terms of the initial investment gave Tetragon the right to redeem its Ripple equity, if XRP was found to be a security.
“XRP is no more a security after the SEC filed the enforcement action than it was before it,” the court said, as quoted in a Ripple press release. “The enforcement action, by contrast, asks that question. The question is not yet resolved, so a determination has not yet been made.”
The filings were not immediately available at press time.
“Let’s call Tetragon’s lawsuit what it is – an opportunistic move to take advantage of the SEC’s allegations. What has always been clear (and made so even more today) is that the SEC still has to try to prove their case in Court; which we do not believe they will be able to do,” Ripple said in a statement.