- Peter Brandt says the US SEC doesn’t understand much about crypto; else, they would have declared XRP as a security.
- The Ripple company has already maintained that the crypto isn’t a security, as holders don’t own a stake in the company.
The fourth-largest digital currency by market capitalization, Ripple (XRP), has strayed away from public sentiments that suggest it’s a security. While the blockchain company itself gave reasons why the cryptocurrency isn’t a security, many industry experts like Peter Brandt believe otherwise. The commodity trading veteran made a recent tweet, relaying his opinion that the cryptocurrency is a security.
Controversies around Ripple (XRP)
The veteran commodity trader made his thoughts known on Twitter yesterday while responding to a comment on a chart he shared in November, pointing to the lagging price of Ripple against Bitcoin. The comment reads that the XRP company holds almost half of the total circulating supply of the digital currency, adding that it’s “hard to trust such a scheme.” This got Brandt reiterating that the cryptocurrency is a security.
According to Brandt, the cryptocurrency would have been categorized as a security if only the United States Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) had a clear understanding of the cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, Ripple had maintained that the cryptocurrency isn’t security; even after a lawsuit was filed, they issued unregistered securities to investors. Part of Ripple’s argument against the XRP-security controversy is that the crypto Ledger functions independently from the company.
XRP price
More so, the cryptocurrency doesn’t give the holders a stake in the blockchain company. One use case driving the cryptocurrency is its efficiency for cross-border payments, as Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, usually mentions in interviews. The fact that the blockchain company holds a significant supply of the cryptocurrency also led Brandt to say that “it is a classic case of a market being manipulated by a bag-holder.”
At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency trades at $0.25, a -1.25 percent 24 hours price change on Coinmarketcap. The crypto has a market capitalization of $11.6 billion from a circulating supply of about 45.3 billion XRP.
