Ripple celebrates Gary Gensler’s SEC departure

Gary Gensler’s time at the helm of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ends this Friday. The San Francisco-based blockchain company Ripple is marking the occasion with enthusiasm.

Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, took to social media, remarking, “Starting tomorrow, ‘Gary who?’ will be the only appropriate response if someone mentions his name. Onward.”

Gesler’s aggressive stance

The SEC filed its opening brief in the appeal of its ongoing lawsuit with Ripple earlier this week. The case in question was based on the perceived nature of XRP as a security and has been widely discussed in the cryptocurrency industry.

Ripple, however, appears unfazed. Alderoty called the latest legal action “noise,” suggesting that the SEC’s new leadership could adopt a new approach. He also noted that the case could be deferred, as there were reports that certain cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions without fraud claims could be suspended.

The appeal comes as the SEC, under Gensler, has been accused of being overly aggressive in the legal arena by many industry participants. Ripple’s lawyer, John Deaton, who is actively involved in the case against the SEC, has also slammed Gensler for his leadership. 

Another example of how @GaryGensler is leaving the @SECGov in disgrace. The reputation of the SEC, both inside and outside the courtroom, is in complete shambles.Paul Atkins has his work cut out for him.

It would be nice to witness real reform at the SEC. Also, we need to… https://t.co/ZnaSdbJbrc

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) January 14, 2025

He said Gensler left the SEC in disarray within and outside the court. Deaton, however, said that there may be changes under the new chair, Paul Atkins, who is a nominee of President-elect Donald Trump. Akins is expected to pause some activities against cryptocurrency companies, which will be favourable to Ripple.

According to the reports, the SEC under Atkins intends to allow more cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Analysts predict that the probability of the approval of an XRP ETF in 2025 is 66% which could lead to over $8 billion of inflows.

Gensler became the SEC chairman in 2021, and there were high hopes that he would be more receptive to cryptocurrencies due to his experience teaching blockchain and crypto at MIT. At first, some people in the industry, including Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, applauded his appointment. However, his time in the role has been marked by controversy, as the SEC has sued numerous major crypto firms.

It has been the privilege of a lifetime to work for you as @SECGov Chair.

Over the last four years, we updated rules in our equity market & Treasury Markets, & shortened the settlement cycle. We returned more than $2.7B to harmed investors.

A quick look at the last four years: pic.twitter.com/gUBfaiURMx

— SEC Chair Gary Gensler Archive (@GenslerArchive) January 17, 2025

However, Gensler came to the defense of the SEC in an interview saying that cryptocurrency enforcement was only 5% of the agency’s workload. He called his four years at the helm of the SEC “the privilege of a lifetime.”

Trump administration and XRP surge

The regulatory landscape could see a major change under President-elect Donald Trump, who promised to fire Gensler and adopt more lax market rules. Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse has been constantly in touch with the new administration and reportedly had a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago this month. 

According to reports, Garlinghouse proposed the concept of a federal crypto reserve that would include XRP and Bitcoin. However, Ripple has not confirmed these discussions.

Despite the prevailing legal ambiguities, XRP has given impressive results. The cryptocurrency recently spiked to $3.23, coming close to its previous record of $3.40 set in 2018. In the past week alone, XRP has jumped by more than 40%, with higher-value transactions and the number of holders on the rise. Currently, XRP is trading at $3.28, having risen by 2% in the last 24 hours.

According to Analytics firm Santiment, there were 2,365 XRP transactions worth more than $100,000 within a day for eight hours. Also, over 500,000 new XRP wallets have been created in the last two months, which speaks about the continuing interest in the token.

📈 XRP has just reached a new 7-year high, crossing a $3.39 market value for the first time since January, 2018. With this rise, we have just seen 2,365 $100K+ XRP transactions in the latest 8-hour span, the highest spike since December 34rd. Total holders are also skyrocketing. pic.twitter.com/gtaRp0NPn9

— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) January 16, 2025