Ripple Labs has recently made claims that the SEC, under the leadership of Gensler, has a reputation for imposing excessive penalties. The response from the SEC to the filing was of particular interest to the Chief Legal Officer of Ripple. Stuart Alderoty, the CLO of Ripple, has provided new insights on the latest filing from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following a contentious week in the case.
The drama unfolded this week with news of a settlement between the regulator and insolvent Terraform Labs. The settlement amount of $4.47 billion raised concerns as to whether the company could afford to pay it, according to recent analyses.
In addition, Ripple Labs joined in and contested the fine by filing a notice of Supplemental Authority. They criticized the SEC, under Gary Gensler, for imposing inflated penalties. Ripple reiterated their stance that the $2 billion penalty sought by the SEC is disproportionate to the transaction amount in question.
In response to Ripple Labs’ filing, the SEC raised multiple objections, emphasizing that the settlement amount for Terraform Labs’ bankruptcy was $4.47 billion. The SEC also disputed Ripple’s claims, stating that the company had not agreed to any terms. Ripple, on the other hand, argued against this claim, citing a previous ruling that XRP is not considered a security and highlighting that there were no victims in the XRP sales conducted by Ripple Labs.
Stuart Alderoty found the SEC’s assertions in response to Ripple Labs’ filing to be the most significant aspect. The SEC claimed that Ripple had rejected the idea of a penalty and insisted on a minimum of $102.6 million in addition to the $10 million already claimed. The Ripple CLO expressed relief, stating that the SEC seemed to have abandoned its demand for $2 billion based on this development.
In other crypto news today, Cardano’s founder has proposed blockchain-backed elections with a paper audit trail.
