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XRP News: Ripple CEO Teases Major Announcements At Swell Event

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has expressed his anticipation for the upcoming DC Fintech week, dropping major hints and teasers about significant announcements and heated discussions slated for the event. 

Ripple Swell Event Sparks Community Interest

Chief Executive Officer of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse has teased the X (formerly Twitter) community with hints of discussions and ideas about the upcoming Ripple Swell 2023 event scheduled for November 8th and 9th in Dubai. 

Garlinghouse stated that he was always excited about the DC Fintech Week which occurred every year. He emphasized the importance of the event in bringing together different people with similar interests in one room interacting and sharing their different ideas and perspectives on substantial topics and issues in the finance and blockchain industry. 

In his post, Garlinghouse dropped a cryptic message, likening the Ripple Swell event to a “proverbial cage match.”

“Every year I look forward to DCFintechWeek — everyone from the public to private participants in one room, discussing (and sometimes debating) the substantive issues with no holds barred. wondering…a proverbial cage match?!” Garlinghouse stated. 

Some of the headlining speakers excluding Garlinghouse appearing at the DC Fintech Week include United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, Nellie Liang, CEO of Grayscale Investments, Michael Sonnenshein, Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, Vice Chair of Supervision at the Federal Reserve, Michael Barr, and others.

As the Ripple Swell event approaches, many crypto enthusiasts are looking forward to witnessing what could be a defining moment in the Ripple ecosystem as the event may provide more insight into Ripple’s future developments and present challenges.

Ripple price chart from Tradingview.com (XRP News)

Garlinghouse To Share Stage With Gensler At Swell Event

Following the conclusion of one of the most heated high-stakes legal battles in the crypto space, Garlinghouse and SEC Chair Gary Gensler are set to share a stage in the DC Fintech Week, discussing and possibly debating on various topics in the fintech and blockchain space. 

The legal battle between Gensler and Ripple’s top Executives Chris Larsen and Garlinghouse has been one of the most closely watched conflicts in the crypto space. The SEC sued both executives, accusing them of violating US securities laws by supporting the sales of XRP tokens in unregistered security offerings to investors. 

The regulator eventually dropped all charges and claims against Larsen and Garlinghouse earlier in October, earning Ripple a partial win against the agency. 

Many XRP community members have rallied behind Garlinghouse’s label of the Ripple Swell event as a “proverbial cage match.” This sentiment is particularly strong when considering participants like Gensler and Garlinghouse who have a history of legal disagreements and Grayscale and US SEC who are currently in a legal dispute concerning the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs. 

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SEC Boss Gary Gensler Completes Senate Hearing: Here’s What Crypto Investors Should Know

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is on the hot seat as the Senate Banking Committee demands answers and clarity on a range of topics including the commission’s ongoing investigations in the crypto space and Gensler’s belief that cryptocurrencies should be regulated under the securities law. 

Senate Banking Committee Grills Gensler

Gary Gensler, Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was cross-examined by the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, September 12. The committee probed the SEC boss for clarification on the commission’s complex rules changes and the ability of these new regulations to address future market failures.  

Following the hearing, a Journalist at Fox Business, Eleanor Terrett, revealed in an X (formerly Twitter) post a list of key points from the hearing between SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the Senate Banking Committee. 

She stated that a variety of topics were discussed in the hearing, with Artificial Intelligence being the primary focus, while cryptocurrency was discussed on a small scale. Nevertheless, Terrett explained that the members of the committee brought to light Gensler’s rule-making pace, and his aggressive pursuit of crypto firms in the industry. 

Republican members of the committee mostly questioned Gensler on his activities in the crypto industry. Some members felt he was encouraging a turbulent environment in the crypto space by enacting new rules and regulations at an excessively fast pace. However, other members felt he was not putting enough effort into positioning the crypto industry under the commission’s heel. 

Gensler responded by saying that the US SEC was enacting rules and regulations at a determined pace much slower than the committee’s previous Chairs. As an example, Gensler explained that he provided the public with a sufficient timeline of 70 days to make comments on the commission’s most recent securities rule which involved climate change. 

When asked about approvals for Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETFs, Gensler avoided making any solid statements. However, he emphasized the importance of securities law in regulating digital assets like cryptocurrency and protecting investors in the crypto industry from fraud and risks. 

“I think at the heart of our securities laws is protecting investors against fraud. They get to decide. They get to take the risk. I’m not negative or minimalist about crypto. I just think it would be best if it’s inside the investor protection regime that Congress laid out,” Gensler stated in the hearing. 

Crypto total market cap chart from Tradingview.com (SEC boss Gary Gensler)

The SEC’s Ongoing Battle With Crypto Industry

The ongoing battle with the US SEC and the crypto industry has been dominating headlines for years now. The regulatory commission has been striving to assert its authority and establish clear rules and guidelines for the rapidly evolving crypto sector. 

In its attempt to govern the crypto sector, the US SEC has filed multiple lawsuits against different crypto firms including Ripple, Gemini, and crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. 

In light of this, many crypto industry leaders and political leaders supporting the advancement of cryptocurrency argue that the SEC’s classification of cryptocurrencies as securities stifles innovation and imposes unnecessary restrictions on digital assets. 

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Crypto Needs Regulation If It’s Going To Survive, Says SEC Boss

The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called for the crypto space to work with regulators. The Financial Times reported that Chairman Gary Gensler had asked Congress to empower his agency so they will be better able to govern the market. It is still not clear yet which agency has oversight of the cryptocurrency industry, as regulators mainly classify bitcoin as more of a commodity than it is a security.

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It is estimated that less than 10% of the world currently knows about crypto. But nevertheless, it is still a large enough number that has prompted regulators to start looking into ways of properly regulating these digital assets. It is no longer just retail investors who are trying to make some quick profit on highly volatile markets. Institutional investors have also thrown their hat in the ring, like in the case of Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy.

Finance Is About Trust

Gensler believes that if the market is to grow, then it needs to embrace regulation. The SEC chairman explained that regulation would provide trust in the market, which is important if the market does not want to become irrelevant over time. “Finance is about trust, ultimately,” Gensler said. Gensler’s focus is mostly on trading platforms, given that this is where the majority (~95%) of activities in the crypto market are carried out.

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Gensler had earlier suggested that crypto platforms register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This was met with disdain from investors who do not want governmental control over cryptocurrencies. But Chairman Gray Gensler has again urged these platforms to register with regulations. “Talk to us, come in,” said Gensler.

“There are a lot of platforms that are in operation today that would do better engaging and instead there is a bit of begging for forgiveness, rather than asking for permission.”

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There have been crackdowns going on in the crypto space on exchanges. Most prominent of these have been the crackdowns on Binance by various countries. BlockFi locked in a regulatory showdown down with three states, and most recently, Uniswap being investigated by the SEC.

Crypto Market Will Benefit From Regulation

Regulation may not be an easy topic in crypto, but it does not make it any less important. Exchanges already realize that if they wish to grow in the long-term, they are going to have to work with regulators.

To this end, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and co-founder of FTX exchange, said in an interview that he was taking regulation “extremely seriously.” The CEO believes that working with regulators will ensure the survival of the industry. Adding in that exchanges working with regulators will ensure that the rules being created do not harm the market, “killing the use for it in the first place.”

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It is still not clear where most crypto products fall when it comes to regulatory practices. But Gensler believes decentralized finance platforms fall under the purview of the SEC. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a stock token, a stable-value token backed by securities, or any other virtual product that provides synthetic exposure to underlying securities,” Gensler said to the Aspen Security Forum. “These products are subject to the securities laws and must work within our securities regime.”

Crypto total market cap finds comfortable position above $2 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com
Featured image from Reuters, chart from TradingView.com