WeBlogs founder Jason Calcanis, who also acts as an angel investor with a large Twitter following, made controversial statements about the XRP cryptocurrency yesterday, calling it a security. Calcanis’ take on the native digital currency associated with the Ripple company generated a lot of backlash from the crypto community, with comments from Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton, among others.
Earlier this week, Garlinghouse was a keynote speaker at the Dubai 2023 Fintech Summit, using the platform to talk about the internal costs of the ongoing legal battle with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
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The CEO’s statements about the financial costs of the legal battle between Ripple and SEC were seen as the cause and factor behind Calacanis’ controversial comments.
XRP is clearly a security
It would have taken little for the Ripple team to register as a security and play by the rules – as everyone in the industry does all day $xrp pic.twitter.com/Yxga686tBZ
— @jason (@Jason) May 9, 2023
XRP no security, defends CEO
The heated legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) began when the US regulator accused the company of selling XRP in an unregistered security offering. While the company has made numerous attempts over the years to debunk this claim, CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at the Dubai Fintech Summit that Ripple will have spent $200 million fighting the SEC lawsuit.
In making this statement at the summit, Weblogs founder Jason Calcanis took over his official Twitter account and said “XRP is clearly a security”, and it would have taken little for Ripple’s team to have it as a security registered and played by the rules, just like everyone else in the industry does all day.
Calcanis’ tweet drew counter comments and opinions from top players in the crypto industry, including Garlinghouse.
The Ripple Boss responded to Calcani’s tweet calling it illegitimate and embarrassing because there is no framework to register digital assets in the US.
remind me when you learned securities law?! This is embarrassing for you (and hilariously wrong because there is no framework to register digital assets in the US), but we’re all used to you making controversial statements and trolling about things you know nothing about…
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 9, 2023
Pro-XRP attorney John Deaton also commented in defense of the cryptocurrency, saying that claiming that Ripple sold XRP as a security is very different from being a security itself.
the barrel responded to Calcanis and said, “XRP is a line of code in software. How do you register? “to have registered it as security and played by the rules like everyone else.” Where have ETH, ADA, ALGO, XLM, etc. registered?” replied Deaton.
Ripple remains undeterred
Ripple continues to persevere amid uncertainties in US crypto regulation and speculation about when a ruling will finally be reached in their legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As mentioned earlier, Garlinghouse credited the large $200 million spent defending the company against the SEC lawsuit as demonstrating their commitment to coming out victorious.
Related reading: XRP Price Prediction: Ripple Plunges to $0.42: Can Bulls Save the Day?
Also, a major highlight of the Dubai Fintech Summit was an announcement by Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse about the company’s expansion in Dubai as the country offers reasonable crypto regulation and operational guidelines.
At the time of writing, the XRP price is experiencing a drop seen in the global cryptocurrency markets.
XRP prints a 5th bearish candle on the daily timeframe | Source: XRPUSD on TradingView.com
Featured image from Financial Times, chart from TradingView.com
