Ripple Inc’s Lawyer Advises Crypto firms to Leave the US

As the Ripple vs SEC case crawls to its end, Stuart Alderoty the legal counsel representing the blockchain technology company has shared some advice for other crypto firms.

According to Stuart, who has been in charge of the case for over 2 years, crypto firms looking to launch a project should do so outside of the US as the rules need to be clarified in the states. He urged the firms to launch in jurisdictions where the rules are more explicit.

In an earlier tweet during the week, Stuart called out the SEC Chair Gary Gensler who he said already has his mind made up that every digital asset except for Bitcoin (BTC) is security.

The Chief legal officer at Ripple noted that the case isn’t an issue of fraud or market manipulation but a question of the law adding that Ripple will appeal the case all the way to the Supreme Court if the judge favors the SEC.

Ripple and SEC Court case Nears its end

In a recent interview, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple Labs hinted that the long drawn-out legal battle between his firm and the US SEC might just be ending very soon.

Brad described the SEC’s handling of the case as “embarrassing” and says he is confident of a favorable outcome in the lawsuit which he predicts will be resolved before the end of the first quarter.

At one time, both the SEC and Ripple agreed to a summary judgment of the lawsuit, urging the judge to make a verdict since she had enough information and documents on the case. Judge Annalisa will now have to give a verdict since both parties failed to reach an out-of-court settlement.

The Ripple and SEC case began in December 2020 after the US regulator filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs for the sales of XRP tokens which it has categorized as an unregistered security.

In its defense, Ripple has argued that the regulator has never mentioned that XRP qualifies as securities, much less an unregistered one. Additionally, the blockchain payment firm says its XRP token does not meet the standard of the Howey test – an examination that ascertains if a digital asset meets the definition of security.