Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Criticizes SEC for Hypocrisy and Lack of Transparency

Key Points:

• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has accused the SEC of inconsistent regulation and hypocrisy.
• The SEC has filed a case against Binance and Coinbase for running unregistered operations and classifying some cryptocurrencies as securities.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse ripped into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for being “hypocritical” and inconsistent in applying its rules.

Read more: US SEC Chairman Gensler Faces Early 2025 Resignation Rumors

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Slams the SEC for Inconsistent Regulation

The comments by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse on social media platform X are some kind of rejoinder to earlier statements made by the SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, that the SEC is going to make the rules very clear when erratic enforcement by the SEC has rather bewildered the industry. To him, it has the hallmarks of political agenda setting or some strategy regarding malicious litigation, not a bona fide regulatory intent.

The criticism came as a rejoinder to what the SEC did in its current lawsuit against Binance.

Previously, the SEC had sued Binance over selling securities by listing the following various cryptocurrencies as securities: BNB, BUSD, SOL, ADA, and MATIC. The newest complaint has removed the claims alleging their sale.

Within the last year, the SEC has charged a few crypto firms with various offences. It accused Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, of deceiving customers over problems of registration and failing to shut out investors based in the United States. In a later development, the SEC charged Coinbase with running an unregistered exchange, labelling several of its listed cryptocurrencies, among them SOL, ADA, and MATIC, as “crypto asset securities.”

Crypto Industry Voices Concerns About Regulatory Clarity

The rebuke by Garlinghouse encapsulates the increasing sentiments from within the crypto community with respect to regulatory consistency. Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, revealed that although claims about these tokens by the SEC were dismissed, those very same tokens in other cases go unaddressed.

Although this ruling now grants investors affected by it a temporary reprieve—since the SEC has up to 30 days to file a motion for leave to amend its complaints—it remains silent on other tokens.