SEC charges Ripple cryptocurrency executives and executives

Provided the Securities and Exchange Commission shipment Tuesday against Ripple, the cryptocurrency fintech XRPAnd two of its executives, for allegedly violating investor protection laws.

The SEC has claimed that Ripple, co-founder Christian Larsen and CEO Bradley Garlinghouse, raised more than $ 1.3 billion through an unregistered offer of securities.

“We claim that Ripple, Larsen and Garlinghouse have failed to record their ongoing offering and sell billions of XRP to retail investors, depriving potential buyers of adequate disclosures about XRP, Ripple’s business and other important long-term safeguards that are essential to us,” said Stephanie Avakian, Enforcement Director. At the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a press release, a robust public market system.

Garlinghouse was Anticipate a lawsuit To be served before Christmas. In a statement issued late Monday, he said the expected lawsuit from the SEC was “fundamentally wrong in law and truth” and asked about its timing.

“XRP is a currency, it does not need to be recorded as an investment contract,” Garlinghouse said.

Created and distributed by Ripple’s founders in 2012, XRP is designed to facilitate fast, cross-border payments. The currency’s value against the US dollar has nearly doubled since early November, thanks to a sharp rise in the latter part of that month, but it’s still down by more than 80% from its peak in late 2017, while the rival cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. It recently reached an all-time high.

The company was recently valued at $ 10 billion and is backed by the likes of Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings, Spain’s Santander Bank and major venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

ripple Rank # 28 in this year 50- Computer Operating Program List.

CNBC’s Ryan Brown and Kate Rooney contributed to this report.

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