Ripple, a cross-border payments firm, has been gearing up for its stablecoin launch. In the Korea Blockchain Week fireside chat, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse elucidated that the stipulated time for the launch has been reduced to “weeks” from months. Ripple USD, or RLUSD, is currently in its beta phase and is kept private for further testing purposes.
Garlinghouse noted. “RLUSD has been minted in that framework. We will certainly launch soon.” The stablecoin market enjoys more freedom from regulatory scrutiny than crypto assets. Monica Long, the President of Ripple, had earlier clarified the value proposition stablecoins would bring to Ripple’s product offerings as “additive and complementary.” Stablecoin would be most helpful in cross-border payments to stabilize currency crosses and minimize any volatility.
How Ripple’s upcoming stablecoin will ‘complement’ XRP | The Scoop Podcast w/ Monica Long
When asked about the recent SEC and Ripple debacle, Garlinghouse expressed his disapproval of the SEC and its regulatory approach toward digital assets. Judge Torres awarded the SEC $125 million, a 94% reduction in the SEC’s final claim of $2 billion against Ripple. Now, a legal battle is to continue between the SEC and OpenSea, an NFT marketplace.
Ripple’s CEO was quick to empathize with the latter and argued that NFTs should not be classified as securities. Drawing parallels to Ripple’s legal battle, he accused the SEC of having a weak case against OpenSea. He said, “Just because someone might speculate on the price of a piece of art that it might go up, doesn’t make it a security. So I think [the SEC has] a losing case.”
Due to friction between Ripple and the SEC, Ripple is not interested in an IPO in the United States. He also mentioned the SEC’s stance on crypto as “pretty hostile” and further accused the SEC of bullying many companies into submission. He quoted, “The SEC has a lot of power, and it takes a lot of money and a lot of conviction to fight that [legal case]”.
At the end of the fireside chat, however, the Ripple CEO expressed his “optimistic” view about the future of crypto. He took a dig at the SEC’s Gary Gensler—no matter who becomes President in the upcoming November election, he believes that it is the “elected officials” who will provide legislative clarity more than any official in the SEC. Garlinghouse called attention to the FIT 21 Act, a legislative movement on crypto, to uphold his faith in crypto’s future.
Also Read: XRP Price Prediction