Ripple CEO Warns of Potential Damage to Crypto Industry if SEC Wins Lawsuit Against XRP

Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse has highlighted the potential damage the crypto industry could suffer if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is successful in its lawsuit against the company and XRP.

Garlinghouse told Bloomberg on Thursday that the case “is not just about Ripple or about XRP – it’s about the industry”. He noted that if the SEC were to prevail in its claim that XRP is a security then the agency would take an enforcement-centric stance in regulating the crypto industry, which he believes is “not a healthy way to regulate an industry”.

Garlinghouse pointed to other countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland that have taken a more thoughtful approach to crypto regulation, creating “clear rules of the road”. He believes the U.S. is falling behind in this regard and, as a result, many crypto-related businesses have already moved offshore.

The Ripple executive then drew a comparison to the internet in the late 1990s, when some were calling for it to be banned, but the U.S. government instead decided to enable innovation and create a regulatory framework.