A July 13 court ruling in Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC suggested XRP may not necessarily be a security, a decision which has already made significant waves in the space.
Stu Alderoty, the chief legal officer for Ripple Labs, has reportedly said United States-based banks may turn to XRP for cross-border transactions following a recent court ruling.
According to a July 17 CNBC report, Alderoty expressed confidence that U.S. banks and financial institutions could begin exploring XRP for use in cross-border payments. The Ripple CLO reportedly made the statement less than 24 hours after a federal judge in the firm’s case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled the XRP token was not necessarily a security.
“I think we’re hopeful that this decision would give financial institution customers or potential customers comfort to at least come in and start having the conversation about what problems they are experiencing in their business, real-world problems in terms of moving value across borders without incurring obscene fees,” said Alderoty on July 14. “Hopefully this quarter will generate a lot of conversations in the United States with customers, and hopefully some of those conversations will actually turn into real business.”
Though Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC first brought in December 2020 is not yet over, the ruling on XRP has already made significant waves in the crypto space. Many U.S. exchanges have announced they re-enabled trading for the token or would explore doing so for the first time in more than two years, and some lawmakers have reiterated calls for regulatory clarity.
#NEW: Chairmen @PatrickMcHenry and @CongressmanGT issue a statement regarding the court ruling in SEC v. Ripple and the need for legislative clarity in the digital asset ecosystem to prevent further uncertainty in our financial markets.
— Financial Services GOP (@FinancialCmte) July 14, 2023
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Related: Ripple decision is ‘troublesome on multiple fronts,’ says former SEC official
With the label of ‘security’ seemingly no longer hanging over XRP, partnerships between Ripple and banks dampened by the SEC lawsuit could find new life. Bank of America had been eyeing the blockchain firm in 2019, and American Express first partnered with Ripple starting in 2017.
At the time of publication, the price of XRP was roughly $0.74, having increased by more than 50% since the court ruling. The token became the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization following the price surge.
