Ripple CEO: U.S. SEC helps ETH surpass XRP as the second largest cryptocurrency

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who has been expressing his views on the state of the crypto market and regulation, seems to be starting to resent the way the SEC is treating Ethereum.

Speaking at the Washington Fintech Week virtual conference on Oct. 21, the Ripple boss claimed that ethereum has received the regulatory green light allowing it to overtake his company’s XRP token.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been going after Ripple, claiming that XRP is an unregistered security. In January, Ripple submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the SEC, seeking to understand why it did not consider ETH to be a security. Six months later, in July, a district judge allowed the company to subpoena a former U.S. SEC official who declared in 2018 that ETH was not a security.

Garlinghouse clearly felt his company had taken a hit, and ethereum's subsequent success was at least partially attributable to the U.S. SEC's favorable treatment. This is affecting the market, he said, adding:

“XRP is the second most valuable digital asset over the past few years. ETH has obviously seen some explosive growth with the US SEC giving ETH a passport, and this clarity has helped.”

At the end of December 2017, XRP was the second largest crypto asset by market capitalization. It has currently slipped to seventh place, while Ethereum has held the second spot ever since.

Garlinghouse also said the U.S. SEC has been taking a tough stance on cryptocurrencies, most recently taking action against his own company and Coinbase. Referring to Ripple's fight with the financial regulator, he said that the US SEC claims to be protecting consumers, but:

"Nearly 50,000 Americans who hold XRP are trying to sue them for 'protecting them' with the US SEC."

Earlier this month, a U.S. district judge ruled that individuals who hold the company’s XRP tokens cannot join the lawsuit as defendants.

The U.S. SEC’s request for an extension to the deadline to complete an investigation into the ongoing lawsuit by Ripple Labs and its executives has been granted and postponed until January 14, 2022.

Ripple claimed that any further delay in resolving the case would "cause serious harm to the interests of the defendants and XRP holders."

The court acknowledged this, but said "the additional time the SEC has sought will not affect the agenda for resolving this case."

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