SEC hjalp Ether Surpass XRP, Ripple CEO

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said that Ether (ETH) overtook the company's XRP token by market capitalisation because of the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC).

According to Garlinghouse, the US regulator's approach towards ETH largely encouraged investors, giving it a free pass that enabled the smart contract platform's native token to overtake XRP in the market.

 "I løpet av de siste årene var XRP den nest mest verdifulle digitale ressursen. Da det ble klart at SEC hadde gitt et hallpass til ETH, har ETH åpenbart eksplodert, og at klarheten har hjulpet," han sa.

Ripple's XRP currently occupies the seventh spot among the largest cryptocurrencies, with a market cap of $52 billion according to data from CoinGecko. Ethereum has held the second spot for the last four years after deposing XRP during the 2017 bull run.  The Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency currently has a market cap of over $490 billion after its price surged to set a new all-time high above $4,000.

In comments made on Thursday 21 October at the DC Fintech Week, the Ripple exec also claimed that the SEC's approach was based on "outdated" laws. He also wondered why a former official at the agency had found it easier to say Ethereum was not a security, yet SEC Chair Gary Gensler cannot make the same pronouncement.

Garlinghouse's comments come at a time Ripple is battling the US watchdog's charge that XRP is a security illegally sold by Ripple Labs and the company's top brass. The company has also faced class-action lawsuits before.

Despite these events, more XRP holders feel the SEC has unfairly targeted Ripple, a view Garlinghouse also holds. According to him, there almost 50,000 holders of the token "are trying to sue the SEC for 'protecting them'."

Kampen har ført til at retten lar XRP-innehavere bli amicus curiae eller venner av retten. Den samme dommeren som behandlet Ripple vs. SEC-saken avgjorde imidlertid at tokenholdere ikke kan delta i saksgangen som tiltalte.

XRP har mistet omtrent 67 % av verdien siden den nådde et rekordhøyt nivå på 3.40 USD 7. januar 2018. Nåværende pris på rundt 1.11 USD betyr imidlertid at verdien har økt med mer enn 27 % de siste 30 dagene og mer enn 340 % opp siden denne tiden i fjor.