TL:DR Breakdown
- Ripple says investments in its crypto spiked 100 percent in Q1 2021.
- Update on Ripple, SEC lawsuit.
Global payment firm Ripple has reported that its embattled cryptocurrency, XRP, has experienced a 100 percent increase in investment in the first quarter of 2021. This is against the backdrop of its legal fight with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
XRP investment shot up to $150 million in Q1 2021 compared to $76 million in Q4 2020. The firm attributed the rise to its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service. The service helps Ripple clients to settle cross-border payments via XRP without pre-funding.
The firm highlighted it experienced higher engagement from its key ODL customers, and it has not experienced such metric rise in XRP investment.
XRP: Ripple, SEC battle update
The rise in investment of the Ripple-developed crypto comes even when the SEC is looking to oust XRP as a cryptocurrency with claims that the supposed crypto is actually a security.
In December, the regulators sued Ripple to court alongside Brad Garlinghuse and Chris Larsen, claiming that they illegally raised more than $1.3 billion selling XRP, unregistered security.
Ripple, which rebuffed the SEC claims, says that the lawsuit has caused “havoc” for U.S. investors, developers, and small businesses that use and rely on XRP and the Ledger.
After much back on forth by the firm and the regulators, the latest between both is Judge Sarah Netburn’s ruling where she ordered that the SEC must produce documents related to Bitcoin, and Ether.
The regulatory body lost several pretrial motions in the past few months, including Ripple’s victory in forcing the SEC to reveal documents related to Bitcoin, and Ether. Despite Judge Netburn’s ruling to disclose critical records, she excluded the discovery of internal communications at the SEC.
The regulators, however, recently responded by stating that it does not possess any material relating to the leading cryptocurrencies.
Also, investors have filed a motion in the lawsuit to enable them to get involved in the case as they are directly affected by the ongoing case with no legal representation to present their interest.
