Ripple's Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, has publicly criticized Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler for his approach towards the cryptocurrency industry, particularly in light of the SEC's legal battle with Ripple. Alderoty's comments came as a response to Gensler's recent speech at the Securities Enforcement Forum.
In his address last month, Gensler quoted Joseph P. Kennedy's philosophy of not prejudging but investigating. Yet, Alderoty contends that the SEC did not follow this principle in Ripple's case. He accused the SEC and its chair of having a preconceived bias against the crypto industry, which he believes has influenced their legal actions without thorough investigation.
The controversy stems from December 2020 when the SEC charged Ripple with securities law violations linked to its sales of XRP, the digital asset associated with the company. The SEC faced a setback when Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP is not a security. She found that Ripple's programmatic sales were legal, except for specific past and direct sales to institutional clients. This ruling was a significant win for Ripple, challenging the SEC's stance on the regulatory status of cryptocurrencies.
While Ripple has faced its legal hurdles, the SEC continues to engage in lawsuits against other crypto entities such as Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Binance. Despite these ongoing cases, Gensler has maintained that Bitcoin is the sole cryptocurrency that falls outside of the SEC's regulatory perimeter.
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