Brad Garlinghouse: SEC lawsuit did not harm Ripple’s business in Asia

Ripple saw no impact on its Asia-Pacific business from the SEC’s lawsuit, Brad Garlinghouse, the company’s CEO, said in an interview with Reuters.

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“We were able to continue growing the business in Asia and Japan because we had a clear regulatory framework in these markets,” said the Ripple CEO.

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Following the SEC’s lawsuit, in which the regulator accused the company of selling unregistered securities in the form of the XRP token worth $1.3 billion, several exchanges halted trading of the asset. Among them were the American Coinbase, Binance US and PayBito.

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“XRP trades on more than 200 exchanges worldwide. In reality, only three or four platforms in the United States halted trading,” said Garlinghouse.

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According to him, since the regulator filed the lawsuit, Ripple has signed more than 15 new contracts with banks worldwide. The lack of regulatory clarity in the United States is an obstacle to innovation, he added.

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“We are seeing XRP liquidity activity rise outside the United States and continue to grow in Asia, especially in Japan,” Garlinghouse stressed.

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He and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, along with Ripple, were named as defendants in the initial SEC lawsuit. In February the regulator filed an amended complaint, which focused on the personal actions of top executives. Garlinghouse, in response to the amended complaint called it ‘regulatory arbitrariness’.

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Earlier, in the wake of the lawsuit, Ripple ceased cooperation with the American money-transfer provider MoneyGram, and Ripple’s Japanese partner, the California-based financial giant SBI Holdings, supported it.

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In February, the subsidiary included XRP in its lending service.

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Regarding the integration of the RippleNet network, LuLu Exchange, the UAE-based international money-transfer service, said.

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Summing up 2020, Garlinghouse described it as a “landmark year for the company” and noted that Asia became a core market for RippleNet.

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