Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, has criticized the recent legal actions taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against cryptocurrency platforms and exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance US.
Garlinghouse expressed his opinion that the SEC’s stance and its chairman are misguided and could hinder innovation in the cryptocurrency industry in the United States.
He emphasized that the SEC chairman’s position was contrary to innovation, referring to comments made by Gary Gensler in an interview with CNBC, where he spoke about the lack of compliance with securities laws by cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States. Gensler stated that the actions taken by the SEC are “directed at innovation because without trust, markets don’t work well.”
Garlinghouse believes that these recent legal actions are aimed at diverting attention away from other developments in the cryptocurrency industry. He considered the SEC to be throwing lawsuits in the field, hoping to distract the public’s attention from the FTX scandal currently facing the agency.
Ripple is involved in a legal dispute with the SEC that began in December 2020 when the company and Garlinghouse were accused of conducting an unregistered $1.3 billion securities offering.
