Ripple (XRP) v. SEC Lawsuit Aftermath: Company to Increase Headcount Outside of US

Brad Garlinghouse – Chief Executive Officer of Ripple – revealed in a recent interview with Bloomberg that 80% of the the crypto firm’s staff hiring this year will be outside the United States.

Recall that the entity has an ongoing legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The latter accused the former of breaching laws by conducting XRP sales years ago, classifying the native token of the enterprise as unregistered security.

Ripple Aims at Countries With ‘Clear Rules’

Garlinghouse said that the majority of new employees that Ripple plans to hire by the end of 2023 will be based not in the United States. He pointed out to regions like Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and the United Kingdom where “governments are partnering with the industry and you’re seeing leadership, they’re providing clear rules and you’re seeing growth.”

On the other hand, the regulatory hurdles in the world’s largest economy seem to have hampered the operations of the San Francisco-based organization in its homeland.

The US SEC launched a legal battle against Ripple in 2020, alleging that the latter raised funds in 2013 through the sale of digital assets known as XRP in an unregistered securities offering to investors in America and across the globe.

The lawsuit recently reached to a point that benefits the blockchain firm. As CryptoPotato reported in mid-July, a US Judge ruled that most of Ripple’s XRP sales didn’t constitute an offer of investment contracts.

The SEC Strikes Back

Despite marking a landmark court victory nearly two months ago and having the upper hand in the battle, Ripple’s win is far from being decisive as the watchdog formally filed to appeal the ruling.

Its disaccord focuses on two particular XRP sales “programmatic” (which were offered to public buyers) and such classified by the court as “other distributions.”

It is worth noting that Judge Torres has already determined that the former process did not violate securities laws.