x
.png)
The San-Francisco-based blockchain company Ripple may still have more issues to deal with, as one of its lead investors involved in the company’s Series C funding has filed a lawsuit following the U.S. SEC’s allegations.
Article produced by Anthonia Isichei
According to Bloomberg, on Tuesday (Jan. 5, 2021), Tetragon Financial Group, an investment company based in the UK fled a complaint against Ripple on Monday in Delaware Chancery Court. Part of the lawsuit is looking to “enforce its contractual right to require Ripple to redeem” Series C preferred stock.
Tetragon was the lead investor in Ripple’s $200 million Series C funding back in Dec. 2019. The funds raised were channelled towards upgrading the XRP Ledger and to expand the utility of the XRP token.
The investment company also wants the court to freeze Ripple’s liquid or cash assets until the company makes the payment. Besides, Tetragon is seeking a restraining order, along with an accelerated trial, and a preliminary injunction.
Tetragon’s lawsuit came after the U.S. SEC back in Dec. 2020 claimed that Ripple conducted unauthorized securities offerings worth over $1 billion. Following the SEC’s allegations, the consequences have been devastating for Ripple.
Addressing the issue, Ripple has posted an official response to Tetragon’s allegation, which reads:
In Ripple’s Series C investment agreement, there is a provision that if XRP is deemed to be a security on a go forward basis, then Tetragon has the option of having Ripple redeem their Ripple equity. Since there has been no such determination, this lawsuit has no merit. We are disappointed that Tetragon is seeking to unfairly take advantage of the lack of regulatory clarity here in the U.S. The courts will provide this clarity and we are very confident in our position.
Apart from the XRP token value taking a nosedive, different crypto platforms have also either delisted or planned to delist or suspend XRP for U.S. traders. As CryptoPotato recently reported, Grayscale Investments removed the token from its diversified public crypto fund, liquidated its XRP holdings, and used the funds to buy other crypto assets in the fund.
The SEC’s allegations also affected major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, after one of its users sued the company for receiving commissions gotten from the illegal sale of XRP on its platform.
Meanwhile, Ripple is determined to win the legal battle, stating that it would respond to the SEC’s claims and prove that they are false. The initial pretrial date for the SEC vs. Ripple case is set for February 2021.
Despite the problems surrounding Ripple and XRP, it seems that the company has supporters ready to throw in their weight. A petition by a group of Ripple supporters argued that the SEC’s allegations, which were “frivolous,” had adversely affected several ordinary Americans holding XRP. The petition further asked the White House to declare XRP a currency.
Article produced by Anthonia Isichei - Read the full article:
Blockchain.com is a well-known wallet provider and crypto trading platform that has recently announced that it will be taking the native token of Ripple off of its platform and suspending its trading in the coming week. This comes after numerous exchanges such as Coinbase and OKCoin have done the same.
Blockchain.com’s information on supported digital assets however is still featuring the token at the time of writing. In a blog post published earlier this week on the 4th of January, the platform informed its users of the following:
"Blockchain.com will halt XRP trading beginning Thursday, January 14th at 11:59pm GMT. For all customers who have XRP balances, you will continue to have access to your XRP to send after we halt trading, but we will no longer support receiving more XRP in the Exchange."
With many platforms all over the crypto industry starting to get rid of the token as a part of its services, the community surrounding the token must surely be questioning its loyalty.
All of this comes after the United States securities and exchange commission slapped a lawsuit against the company at the end of last month. In particular, the lawsuit addressed the chief executive officer and co-founder of the company, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen respectively.
The announcement from the exchange specifically mentioned the recent action against the company from the SEC as a reason for delisting the token.
They go on to say that revoking support for a listed asset is an ongoing process and that the company will be continuing to look into the developments as they unfold.
Whereas many crypto assets all over the industry have had a good start to 2021, Ripple and its problems only seem to be heightening.
Article produced by Robert Johnson - Read the full article:
