SEC wants to fine Ripple $2 billion

Even though the lawsuit between the two sides has not yet been resolved, the US Securities Commission (SEC) still wants to impose a fine of up to 2 billion USD on Ripple Labs.

According to Ripple Legal Director Stuart Alderoty, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sent a request to the New York court to impose a $2 billion fine on Ripple Labs.

Currently, this request is still sealed by the court but will soon be announced on March 26 (US time).

This is the latest development in the SEC's lawsuit accusing Ripple and company managers of illegally selling securities in the form of XRP, which has lasted since 2020. However, according to a court ruling, federal law in July 2023, XRP cannot be considered a security in all cases - meaning a partial legal victory for Ripple.

However, the SEC still did not accept giving up the lawsuit. The Securities and Exchange Commission then filed and rejected an appeal, then prepared for the final stage of the lawsuit by petitioning the court to impose a $2 billion fine on Ripple.

Mr. Stuart Aldetory announced that his company will continue to fight against the SEC's request to pay fines and will submit a rebuttal in April.

As reported, the US Securities and Exchange Commission under the direction of Chairman Gary Gensler in the period 2022 - 2023 has waged a legal battle targeting the cryptocurrency industry, with arguments that securities are often use. Recently, there has been a lot of information that the SEC's upcoming target will be Ethereum, the world's second largest cryptocurrency.

The $2 billion fine against Ripple, if approved by the court, would be second only to the $4.3 billion that another cryptocurrency company, Binance, agreed to spend in November 2023 to end the lawsuit. investigation by the US Department of Justice.

The price of XRP at the time of writing is still inching up following the general recovery momentum of the cryptocurrency market, unaffected by the news that the SEC wants to fine Ripple $2 billion.

At the same time, in an interview, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said that many companies in the crypto industry are avoiding legal registration.

At a recent conference held at Columbia University School of Law, one of the leading universities in the United States in the field of law, Chairman of the US Securities Commission (SEC), Mr. Gary Gensler, made a new statement of criticism. most aimed at the cryptocurrency industry.

Specifically, when presenting the need for information transparency in financial markets, which would increase market efficiency and protect investors, the current Chairman of the SEC said: Take the cryptocurrency industry as an example of lack of compliance.

Mr. Gensler said:

“There are many elements in the cryptocurrency industry deliberately avoiding registration regulations, thereby not being forced to disclose information. Many agree that the crypto market needs to be cleaned up.”

Indeed, the SEC in the period 2022 - 2023 has made many legal moves targeting crypto companies and projects operating in the US, from collapsed/bankrupt organizations such as FTX, Genesis, Terraform Labs (LUNA -UST), to major industry players such as Kraken, Coinbase and Binance, along with many DeFi projects - with securities arguments frequently used to blame.

Next, the SEC Chairman said that his agency and the Asset Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) both have the authority to regulate the cryptocurrency market, that he and his CFTC counterpart are Chairman. Rostin Behnam regularly discusses this issue.

Even so, the SEC and CFTC are currently at odds over how to regulate the crypto industry. A typical example is that while the CFTC believes that Ethereum (ETH) is not a security, the SEC has repeatedly affirmed in the past that coins that use the Proof-of-Stake model such as ETH fall into the category of securities. This.

The SEC recently asked companies that worked with the Ethereum Foundation to cooperate in providing information.

All of the above developments are making the prospect of an Ethereum spot ETF product appearing in May more fragile than ever. In his statement approving the Bitcoin spot ETF in January, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said that while his agency approved a Bitcoin ETF, it should not be seen as a move to advocate for cryptocurrencies, nor should the SEC. There is no intention to license any other crypto ETFs.