On Thursday, four of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges announced they would relist Ripple’s XRP after delisting the coin in the United States in 2020 and 2021. After Thursday’s court ruling, Kraken and Coinbase announced the reinstatement of the cryptocurrency on their platforms.
The relisting of Ripple’s XRP follows a ruling by a US District Judge in the ongoing lawsuit between the crypto company, Ripple, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been characterized as the industry’s seminal case.
Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, Paul Grewal, posted an announcement that Ripple’s XRP trading will begin on Thursday if all the current liquidity conditions are met. This decision to relist XRP on Coinbase and Kraken comes as other crypto exchanges, such as Bitstamp and Gemini, also do the same.
The Securities and Exchange Commission initially filed a lawsuit against Ripple in 2020, alleging that it was a security. In addition, it was stated that Ripple listed the XRP on cryptocurrency exchanges and distributed them in other ways via XRP sales to retail and institutional investors. By selling unregistered assets, the seller is in violation of US federal law.
In response to the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, Coinbase, and other cryptocurrency exchanges, XRP was promptly delisted to avoid running afoul of exchange regulators. However, Ripple defended itself against the lawsuit and spent more than $200 million on legal fees.
US District Judge Analisa Torres ruled on Thursday that while the initial sale of Ripple’s XRP to institutional investors constituted a security offering, the sale of XRP on the secondary market, such as a cryptocurrency exchange, did not.
Therefore, for the majority of retail investors, purchasing or selling XRP will not be comparable to buying or selling unregistered securities. Nearing its 52-week high of $116, Coinbase stock dropped by 25%. In June, Coinbase’s ticker COIN soared nearly 99 percent following multiple filings from financial titans WisdomTree, Fidelity, and BlackRock for spot BTC exchange-traded funds.