Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has responded to remarks made by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, branding him as an “uninformed CEO” and accusing him of fostering uncertainty about stablecoin USDT amid a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into his company. In reply, Garlinghouse clarified that his comments were not an attack on Tether but […]
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Garlinghouse: SEC Official Received ‘Millions’ From Vested Interests, Tradfi Heavyweight Crypto Exchange EDX Launches, Peter Schiff on USD Decline — Week in Review
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently asserted that former SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director William Hinman “received millions of dollars of payments from his law firm” which had a vested interest in a well-known 2018 speech given by the then SEC official. In other news, crypto exchange EDX has launched backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial, featuring four cryptocurrencies. This and more in the latest Bitcoin.com News Week in Review.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse: Former SEC Official William Hinman Received ‘Millions of Dollars’ From Law Firms With a ‘Vested Interest’ in His Speech
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has blasted the enforcement approach of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the release of the Hinman docs, which contain internal discussions that the institution had before the now famous 2018 speech offered by former SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director William Hinman. Garlinghouse stated that while he was a public servant, Hinman “received millions of dollars of payments from his law firm,” part of an alliance with a vested interest in his speech.
Crypto Exchange Backed by Fidelity, Schwab, Citadel Launches With Trading of 4 Cryptocurrencies
The cryptocurrency exchange backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial has launched and completed a new funding round. The platform offers the trading of four cryptocurrencies.
Valkyrie Funds Joins Race for SEC Approval as It Files Application for Spot Bitcoin ETF
On Wednesday, Valkyrie Funds, a Tennessee-based asset manager offering a bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), a defi fund, and a bitcoin mining industry ETF, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the launch of a spot bitcoin ETF.
Economist Peter Schiff: US Dollar Decline Will Be ‘Far Greater’ Than Yellen Warns — Fed Chair Powell ‘Clearly Worried’ About Financial Crisis
Economist Peter Schiff says the U.S. dollar decline will be “far greater” than what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned. “This portends a significant decline in our standard of living,” he cautioned. Furthermore, the economist stressed that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “is clearly worried about the evolving financial crisis, but doesn’t want to spook markets.”
What are your thoughts on this week’s hottest stories from Bitcoin.com News? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse: Former SEC Official William Hinman Received ‘Millions of Dollars’ From Law Firms With a ‘Vested Interest’ in His Speech
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has blasted the enforcement approach of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the release of the Hinman docs, which contain internal discussions that the institution had before the now famous 2018 speech offered by former SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director William Hinman. Garlinghouse stated that while he was a public servant, Hinman “received millions of dollars of payments from his law firm,” part of an alliance with a vested interest in his speech.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Blasts Former SEC Official William Hinman’s Actions
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of cryptocurrency-focused company Ripple, recently released a video where he comments on and criticizes the content of the Hinman docs, a set of documents that show internal discussions of the agency before the speech given in 2018 by William Hinman, a former director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to Garlinghouse, the documents, which were finally unsealed after seven court orders and over a hundred million dollars in legal bills, show that “at best, senior officials couldn’t agree on the law, and told Bill Hinman directly he would confuse the public even more about the rules for crypto.” Garlinghouse considered that, at worst, these documents show Hinman “deliberately ignored the law,” stating that:
While he was a public servant, Hinman received millions of dollars of payments from his law firm, which was part of an alliance with others that had a vested interest in this speech.
Fake ‘Open Arms’ Policy
Ripple’s CEO accused the SEC of professing a fake “open arms and come in and register” policy. In his video statement, he explains that he met with former SEC Chair Jay Clayton and Hinman, answering all their questions and being fully open with the company’s operations. However, Garlinghouse detailed the SEC took advantage of this openness to turn it against the company.
Garlinghouse stated:
Not once did they suggest to me that xrp was a security.
Garlinghouse believes that the SEC is trying to “kill crypto innovation” in the U.S. by weaponizing the lack of regulatory clarity to exert jurisdiction over the entire crypto space, something he had mentioned before. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, one of the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges — also being sued by the SEC on charges of operating as an unregistered securities brokerage — has alerted about the dangers of driving the crypto industry outside the country and the possible costs of repatriating it in the future.
What do you think about the statements of Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse on the recently unsealed Hinman docs? Tell us in the comment section below.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse: SEC ‘Weaponized the Lack of Regulatory Clarity,’ Threw ‘an Entire Industry Into Chaos’
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has criticized the role that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to assume against the cryptocurrency industry. After the release of the Hinman docs, which explain the internal discussions of the institution before the now famous Hinman speech, Garlinghouse stated that the SEC “weaponized the lack of regulatory clarity,” throwing an entire industry into chaos.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Accuses SEC of Overreach
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has reacted to the recent release of a set of documents that show the internal debates of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) previous to a 2018 speech from its Director of the Division of Corporation Finance William Hinman.
Commonly referred to as the Hinman docs, these show the internal differences and the confusion the agency had to deal with in qualifying some tokens and cryptocurrencies as securities. According to Ripple CLO Stuart Alderoty, Hinman ignored some of the offered advice and pushed a speech that “was divorced from the Howey factors, exposed regulatory gaps, and would create not just confusion, but ‘greater confusion’ in the market.”
Garlinghouse stated it was “unconscionable that a regulator – when presented with so much pushback on what he was about to say / how he compiled this fake ‘test’ in the first place – decided to move forward anyway, and throw an entire industry into chaos.”
Furthermore, Garlinghouse accused the SEC of weaponizing “the lack of regulatory clarity through enforcement actions” after this speech, qualifying the SEC lawsuit against Ripple and himself as a “deplorable, politically-motivated overreach.”
Garlinghouse has railed against the actions of the SEC before, stating that the institution was using the recent legal actions against Coinbase and Binance as a distraction “from the agency’s FTX debacle.”
Ripple’s Lawsuit
Ripple and the SEC have been battling in court since December 2020, when the institution slapped the company, Garlinghouse, and co-founder Christian Larsen with a .3 billion lawsuit on an unregistered digital asset securities offering.
Garlinghouse estimates that the company will have spent 0 million on its defense by the time the lawsuit is over. However, the executive claims this case is of “pivotal” importance for the whole crypto industry, as he believes that more enforcement actions will be carried out if the SEC position prevails.
What do you think about Brad Garlinghouse’s reaction to the Hinman docs release? Tell us in the comment section below.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse: ‘The SEC Is Throwing Lawsuits at the Wall’
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, has criticized the crypto “pro-innovation” stance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its recent lawsuits against significant exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. Garlinghouse stated that the SEC was “throwing lawsuits at the wall” to distract attention from the debacle of bankrupted exchange FTX.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Blasts SEC’s ‘Pro Innovation’ Stance
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, the company behind the xrp cryptocurrency asset and a series of payment and settlement protocols, has criticized the recent legal actions of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Coinbase and Binance US, two major cryptocurrency exchanges.
Garlinghouse stated that the stance of the SEC and its chairman were wrong and could stifle innovation in the cryptocurrency industry in the U.S.
Garlinghouse explained:
If it wasn’t already clear, it should be now – Chair Gensler’s laughable ‘pro-innovation’ stance (as he said today), is exactly the opposite.
Garlinghouse refers to the statements given by Gensler to CNBC on Tuesday, where he talked about the non-compliance of U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges with securities laws. In the interview, Gensler declared that the set of actions the SEC was taking was “pro-innovation because, without trust, the capital markets really don’t work.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis have also discussed how these policies might affect the future of the industry in the country, causing innovation to take flight to other countries.
SEC’s Lawsuit Barrage Considered a Distraction
Garlinghouse believes these recent actions seek to move the attention away from other developments in the crypto industry. He explained:
What this also tells me is that the SEC is throwing lawsuits at the wall and hoping they distract from the agency’s FTX debacle.
While the SEC charged Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to defraud equity investors, the agency did not include the company in the lawsuit. Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao mentioned this recently on social media.
Garlinghouse challenged the SEC’s jurisdiction in these matters, declaring it was “embarrassing to watch an unelected bureaucrat flail like this to mask the fact that he and his agency don’t have the power that he so desperately craves.”
Ripple is in a legal battle against the SEC that started in December 2020, when it charged the company and Garlinghouse with conducting a .3 billion unregistered securities offering.
What do you think about Garlinghouse’s remarks? Tell us in the comments section below.
Garlinghouse Laughs Off Rumors He Was Behind The Bitcoin Energy FUD
Brad Garlinghouse weighs in on the Bitcoin energy debate by saying Ripple is a more energy-efficient alternative to the leading cryptocurrency.
Speaking to CNBC, Garlinghouse said Elon Musk’s U-turn on Bitcoin was appropriate. Adding, it wasn’t surprising that the Tesla boss eventually flipped on Bitcoin, considering his environmental credentials.
Bitcoin Energy FUD
Two weeks ago, Elon Musk dropped the bombshell that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin due to his concerns that it was damaging to the environment.
A sharp sell-off followed, which was accompanied by more FUD leading to further drops in the Bitcoin price. While this week has seen some reprieve, BTC remains below the 200-day moving average, suggesting bears are currently controlling the market.
Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
This event has reinvigorated debate over the environmental impact of Proof-of-Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies. Putting sustainability squarely back on the agenda once again.
Bitcoin proponents, including Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, say Bitcoin can be made green over time. But Garlinghouse dismisses this argument saying the facts and trends don’t support this view, and Dorsey will need to “reevaluate himself” down the line.
“I think Jack Dorsey, as time goes by, will have to take a look at the fact pattern and trendline and reevaluate himself.”
How Ripple Differentiates Itself
Ripple prides itself on being a much more energy-efficient platform than Bitcoin. Rather than wasteful PoW mining, the Ripple Ledger reaches consensus through a network of independent validating nodes. This process acts as a distributed economic system storing accounting information.
Garlinghouse claims Ripple is one hundred thousand times more energy-efficient than Bitcoin, and that most people grossly underestimate Bitcoin’s environmental impact.
According to the Ripple boss, offsetting the Bitcoin network’s carbon cost for a year would require planting 95 million acres of forest.
“To offset that, from a carbon production point of view, to offset that, you’d have to plant 95 million acres of forest, that’s basically the size of California.”
Responding to claims that Ripple was behind the Bitcoin energy FUD, Garlinghouse laughed off the rumor saying prominent figures are talking about this problem, not just himself.
“Look, you have Bill Gates speaking out about all of this, you have Janet Yellen speaking about this, you have Elon Musk speaking out about this.”
He added that Ripple wouldn’t be locked in a battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission if it held such sway and influence.
“If Ripple could control those people we probably wouldn’t have a lawsuit from the SEC, as an example. So, it’s a real issue, the way we solve real issues is by internalizing them, understanding them, and addressing them.”
In any case, he implied, rather than an attack on Bitcoin, these types of discussions are how the problem gets resolved.
Garlinghouse: 1 Bitcoin Transaction Requires 75 Gallons of Gasoline
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said performing a single Bitcoin transaction requires burning 75 gallons of gasoline. This shocking statistic gives a degree of the scale of Bitcoin’s possible environmental impact.
Bitcoin Gets a Thumbs Down From Environmentalists
It emerged recently that Bitcoin’s annual energy consumption currently matches that of a mid-sized country, with Argentina given as an example.
Garlinghouse said Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus model ensures the problem will get worse as the network grows. This is because rising price correlates positively with energy consumption, as more miners join the network to take advantage.
“As the price of Bitcoin goes up the energy consumption and the carbon footprint of a proof-of-work, that mining that happens to validate the transactions, that continues to scale aggressively also. And we can’t lose sight that one Bitcoin transaction is about the equivalent of 75 gallons of gasoline being burned.”
Charles Hoskinson, the CEO of IOHK, said the amount of energy used by the BTC network has gone up more than four times since the peak of the last bull market.
“Bitcoin’s energy consumption has more than quadrupled since the beginning of its last peak in 2017 and it is set to get worse because energy inefficiency is built into bitcoin’s DNA.”
And with the price of Bitcoin predicted to go up further during this bull cycle, future energy consumption will inevitably rise to that of a large country. Estimates put a 0k Bitcoin on par with the energy consumption of France or Germany.
What’s The Solution?
There are no easy answers to this issue. But Garlinghouse suggested users switch to more energy-efficient platforms, such as Ripple and XRP, especially for payment transactions.
“We at Ripple use the XRP Ledger because it’s extremely fast and it’s about one hundred thousand times more energy-efficient than Bitcoin. In that context, it works really well for payments…”
At the same time, Bitcoin advocates say high energy consumption is not a valid argument as most of the energy comes from renewable sources.
Head of Research at CoinShares Christopher Bendiksen states that Bitcoin mining is a mobile affair drawn to unwanted and cheap energy sources. He claims the majority source comes from otherwise underutilized renewables.
“Bitcoin mining is extremely competitive, but even more importantly, mobile, and therefore tends to cluster around the unwanted (read: cheapest) energy sources of the world. These sources happen to be largely composed of stranded or otherwise underutilised renewables, particularly hydro power.”
What’s more, Bendiksen goes as far as to say the electricity cost is worth it for what we get in return – a global apolitical monetary system. Rather than condemn Bitcoin’s energy usage, he argues that Bitcoin mining has an important role to play in improving the renewable grid architecture.
Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Ripple Move to UK or Singapore Possible After Garlinghouse Praises Both Regulatory Authorities
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse pays tribute to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, as well as the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
In a tweet, Garlinghouse spoke highly of the way each regulatory authority oversees their respective territories. Going further, Garlinghouse said it’s no wonder that both the UK and Singapore have burgeoning crypto industries.
1/ UK’s FCA and Singapore’s MAS have been leaders for years in providing clarity on using/trading assets – no surprise that both countries have traditional FIs leaning into using this technology. DBS’ (pre)announcement today is a prime example. (1/2) https://t.co/xB3dUUG9sV
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 27, 2020
Ripple To Leave The U.S.?
The comments come as a follow on from Ripple’s threat to leave the U.S. over the lack of regulatory clarity.
News of this first gained widespread attention at the start of October, when Ripple CTO Chris Larsen voiced his increasing frustrations over the U.S.’s hostile stance towards the crypto industry.
Much of this frustration comes from, what Larsen perceives as, a regulatory body that favors Bitcoin and Ethereum. But, more than that, he said the upshot to all of this sees the U.S. far behind China in the “tech cold war“.
“Instead of pivoting to encourage U.S. innovation to keep up, they’ve done the opposite. They gave Bitcoin and Ethereum a pass, proof-of-work systems that benefit China, weirdly. But everything else is still in limbo, or worse, kind of regulated through enforcement.”
As a result, some observers have slammed Ripple over their threat to leave the U.S. But Garlinghouse was quick to defend the firm by deflecting blame on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He then went on to say that “fleeing” the U.S. is not something he wants to do. However, given the state of the U.S. crypto landscape, he is forced to consider setting up elsewhere.
“Some have suggested Ripple is “fleeing” the US, let me unequivocally say this is absolutely not the case. We’re a proud US-based company, and would like to stay here but a lack of regulatory clarity and level playing field is forcing us to evaluate other jurisdictions.“
Fractured And Inconsistent Crypto Framework
To illustrate his point, Garlinghouse spoke about the lack of a single national crypto framework in the U.S.
“The lack of a single national regulatory framework is putting US innovation and US companies at a significant disadvantage. All we’re asking for is a level playing field – if we need to move to another country to get that, then that’s the path we will have to take.“
He added that eight different US regulatory bodies each hold a different view on the legal standing of crypto. And without a unified approach, conducting crypto business in the U.S. is a guessing game.
However, last week’s DOJ report lists 8 separate US reg bodies each with a different view: crypto is property, crypto is a commodity, crypto is a virtual currency, crypto is a security, etc. Regulation shouldn’t be a guessing game. https://t.co/B18ZIVodZC (3/5)
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 12, 2020
As well as the UK and Singapore, rumors have surfaced that Ripple is also considering Switzerland and Japan as possible destinations for a relocation.
XRP is currently trading in an ascending channel; breaking the .2550 level could see the start of a strong rally. Today, the price of XRP is down 3% to .2458.
Source: XRPUSDT on Tradingview.com
Garlinghouse: Ripple Has No Intention of Becoming the Amazon of Crypto
The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, has re-established his commitment to cross-border payment solutions by saying the firm has no plans to change tack.
Garlinghouse claims the company is already making great strides in capturing the trillion cross-border payments market. With that, he sees no need to pursue other ventures.
“Ripple has absolutely no plans to ‘reset’ our strategy. Using XRP to solve a real-world, T problem, like cross-border payments, is working.”
The comments come in response to a Financial Times article that made several unfavorable assertions about Ripple and its native token, XRP.
Chief among which was the claim that Ripple technology lacks a compelling use case. As a result, management is looking to diversify its core strategies by becoming the Amazon of cryptocurrency.
A claim that Garlinghouse denies.
Garlinghouse Says XRP is Doing Just Fine
According to the FT, Ripple has failed to convince banks to adopt XRP.
In response, Garlinghouse struck back by saying its On Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, which uses XRP, continues to grow.
ODL, formerly known as xRapid, is a cross-border payment solution that uses XRP to bridge two fiat currencies. It allows for near-instant settlement without the need to pre-fund accounts.
Benefits of ODL. (Source: ripple.com)
According to Garlinghouse, over billion in transactions has been conducted using ODL since its launch. And its growing use is bullish for XRP.
He further backed this up by quoting the latest information from the Ripple Q2 2020 report, which paints a picture of impressive development.
“Comparing just H1 2019 with H1 2020, RippleNet experienced 11x year-over-year growth in ODL transaction volume.”
With that, despite Santander’s rejection of XRP, Garlinghouse remains defiant by saying many other institutions are on board with ODL and XRP.
“Over two dozen customers are on board w/ ODL including MoneyGram, goLance, Viamericas, FlashFX, Azimo and the list goes on.“
Regardless of the FUD, Garlinghouse is adamant that Ripple’s focus on cross-border payments is the best strategy for the firm going forward.
But Isn’t It Looking at DeFi?
Despite Garlinghouse’s claims of sticking only with the cross-border payments market, Ripple CTO David Schwartz hasn’t ruled out adding DeFi to the mix.
In an interview with BlockDown TV, Schwartz spoke of a future where Ripple is placed as a financial hub. With that, the firm is positioned to cater to all types of payment, not just cross-border.
“We’re also looking into offering other services through RippleNet – things like loans, or maybe even if DeFi grows, offering DeFi services to institutional partners.“
This future, he claims, is possible as Ripple has already built a network of banks and financial institutions as contacts. Therefore, any future service, including DeFi products, can be rapidly deployed through that network.
Ripple and XRP continue to divide opinion. But it still remains that no other crypto project can match it for the number of partnerships.
XRP daily chart with volume. (Source: tradingview.com)
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Concerned About Effects of Facebook’s Libra
n Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of crypto startup Ripple, is concerned about the regulatory response that the Libra stablecoin could potentially causen
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