Stuart Alderoty projects that US lawmakers will eventually agree that crypto regulations are necessary and that Ripple’s SEC lawsuit may be resolved.
Stuart Alderoty, the chief legal officer of Ripple, has offered predictions about the state of cryptocurrencies in 2024. He talked about expectations regarding Ripple’s lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the court’s impact on cryptocurrency laws, and prospective legislative issues facing the US Congress.
Alderoty notes the potential ramifications for the cryptocurrency industry of the SEC’s ongoing “regulation by enforcement” approach and projects that Ripple’s lawsuit against the agency may be resolved in 2024.
Alderoty asserts that the judiciary will play a major role in containing SEC abuses and raises the possibility that ongoing legal disputes may lead to a Supreme Court showdown.
Alderoty anticipates that US lawmakers will concur that crypto regulations are necessary. He does anticipate a deadlock in implementation, though, which might leave American cryptocurrency companies exposed while other nations make progress in terms of innovation and regulatory clarity. 2020 saw the SEC file a lawsuit against Ripple Labs and both of its CEOs at the time. The executives allegedly hosted an XRP initial public offering, which the SEC asserts was an unregistered security at the time. In an unregistered securities offering, Ripple allegedly raised money by selling XRP tokens to investors across the globe.
However, in July, a judge granted summary judgement in favour of Ripple Labs, declaring that the XRP token is not a security except with respect to programmatic sales on digital asset exchanges, giving Ripple a legal win over the SEC.
But the SEC also scored a win of its own when a federal judge determined that XRP qualifies as a security when sold to institutional investors because it satisfies the requirements of the Howey test. Since then, significant American exchanges have relisted XRP, which has caused the token’s value to soar 83% year over year.
Analysts and enthusiasts of cryptocurrencies contend that Ripple’s legal dispute with the SEC impeded its expansion and adoption within the US market.
John Deaton, an attorney for XRP, claimed that the lawsuit was weaponized and cited evidence to back up his assertions from the previous three years. In spite of Ripple’s international success, he claims the lawsuit hurt the US adoption of XRP.