Legal Docs Claim Ripple Used GSR Trading Bots to Increase XRP Price, Not Suppress It

Legal documents in the Ripple vs. SEC case claim Ripple leveraged trading bots from GSR to increase the XRP price and not suppress it, as earlier speculated by community members.

Dark Horse, the XRP community member, and crypto researcher who spotlighted Ripple’s use of trading bots for past institutional sales, recently shared court documents from the Ripple vs. SEC case detailing the SEC’s argument around the firm’s institutional sales.

Recall that Dark Horse initially suggested that Ripple’s use of these bots from leading market maker GSR contributed to XRP’s price suppression over the years. This theory aligned with speculation surrounding XRP’s price movements amid the perceived underperformance.

I make no claims about what has been said, but the doc describes the opposite of price suppression – Ripple was using bots to stabilize and boost price in 2015, '16. pic.twitter.com/ziIbPxnI0Y

— WrathofKahneman (@WKahneman) February 28, 2024

However, according to information from the court documents, the SEC contended that Ripple leveraged these bots to increase the price of XRP, contrary to the initial theory of price suppression, as uncovered in the documents by XRP community figure WrathofKahneman. 

Expert Opinion from Ripple vs. SEC Case

The document, filed in June 2023, indicates that the agency contracted the services of an expert, whose details were redacted from the public, to back up these claims.

The expert’s analysis included an in-depth review of Ripple’s communications, SEC-provided documents, and data, scrutiny of publicly available XRP Ledger transactions, historical price data, and personal academic research. 

The expert contended that, at specific junctures, Ripple directed GSR to engage in XRP transactions to either drive prices upward or establish a price floor to prevent declines. Notably, instances of trading directed by Ripple correlated with upward movements or halting declines in XRP prices.

Furthermore, the expert highlighted Ripple’s use of market-making firms to sell XRP strategically, employing tactics to mitigate downward pressure on prices.

The individual noted the imposition of lock-up restrictions on certain sales of XRP, resembling those in traditional IPOs, as a method to stop XRP from slumping.

SEC Claimed Ripple Had Incentives to Keep XRP Price Up

The expert asserted that Ripple and its executives had strong incentives to influence XRP prices, which included an effort to maximize proceeds from sales. 

The substantial transfers of 4.4 billion XRP worth $1.3 billion from Ripple executives Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse to GSR and other entities were noteworthy. These transfers, strategically made over time, aligned with GSR’s programmatic selling of XRP on behalf of Ripple.

Additionally, the expert claimed that Ripple leveraged proceeds from XRP sales between 2017 and 2020 to bridge a funding gap exceeding $800 million, unmet by venture capital fundraising and other revenue sources. 

The expert likened Ripple’s use of XRP to companies leveraging stock, emphasizing the incentive structure for Ripple employees akin to public companies, where increasing share value is a collective goal. 

The SEC’s goal was to prove that Ripple made efforts to increase XRP’s price for the benefit of investors. The charts provided by the SEC and highlighted by Dark Horse claimed that Ripple directed GSR to buy XRP when the price was down and sell when the price hit the top.