Ripple Chair Slams SEC, Says It “Lost on Everything Important”

The chairman of Ripple Labs takes a shot at the SEC following its losses against the company and Grayscale.

Chris Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple Labs, has reacted to the SEC’s recent legal losses against Grayscale and Ripple.

Larsen Says SEC Lost on Everything Important

Recall that Ripple recorded a partial win against the SEC on July 13 when Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the company’s programmatic sales of XRP and other distributions do not constitute securities.

However, the court ruled that Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors violated federal securities laws. Commenting on Ripple’s partial victory, Larsen said the securities regulators “lost on everything that was important to it [and] important in the regulation of the industry.”

He made the comment during an interview with Bloomberg yesterday.

Larsen, whom the SEC charged with aiding and abetting Ripple in distributing XRP as an unregistered security, added that the case is still ongoing.

He mentioned the SEC’s request for an interlocutory appeal, which was filed last month, as one of the issues that could further extend the legal tussle.

Interestingly, Larsen seemed unbothered about the court granting the SEC’s interlocutory appeal request, emphasizing that the July 13 ruling is the “law of the land.”

Court Reprimanded SEC in Ways Not Seen Often 

Furthermore, Larsen also highlighted the SEC’s recent defeat against Grayscale. As reported last month, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of Grayscale, ordering the SEC to review the crypto asset manager’s application to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Reacting, Larsen said the court reprimanded the SEC in a way that people “don’t see very often.”

Congress Should Take the Lead on Crypto Policy

Shortly after his interview with Bloomberg, Larsen tweeted that he hopes the crypto industry is seeing an end to the SEC’s regulation by enforcement policy.

According to Larsen, the courts have already started rejecting the SEC’s regulation by enforcement approach, adding that the time has come for Congress to take the lead on crypto policy.

I sincerely hope we’re seeing the beginning of the end of the SEC’s policy of regulation by enforcement. The Courts are rejecting it, and now it’s time for Congress to take the lead on crypto policy.

Thanks @EdLudlow @technology for the chat! https://t.co/3gZOR4lq5J

— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) September 6, 2023

Larsen Tackles US Government Over Its “Hostile” Crypto Policy

Meanwhile, Larsen also took a swipe at the US government for fostering “hostile policies and regulatory crackdowns” against crypto.

These efforts, according to Larsen, made San Francisco lose its status of becoming “the blockchain capital of the world.”

He noted that other regions like Singapore, London, and Dubai are now bigger hubs for the blockchain sector because the United States government forced crypto-related businesses to move their operations overseas.