Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Weighs In on Bitnomial Legal Woes, Calls SEC 'Renegade Agency'
2024-10-12

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of U.S. fintech decacorn Ripple, pledges support for Chicago-based derivatives exchange Bitnomial as it preemptively sues the SEC for its yet another attack on XRP. One of the vendors of XRP futures contracts, Bitnomial, seeks a declaration from Illinois federal district court to avoid a "compounding regulatory burden."
Ripple's Garlinghouse says "renegade agency" SEC hits new low again
In its adamant anti-crypto policy, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is operating above the law and ignoring the effective court decision that clarified the non-security status of XRP for good, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, says to his 825,000 X followers.
A new low for a renegade agency many thought couldn't sink further. 
The SEC now believes it can operate above the law, ignoring a Court's ruling that XRP isn't a security. 
Team Ripple will be watching closely and weighing our own options to hold the SEC accountable. https://t.co/9yMWsNHRde— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 11, 2024
With this statement, he backed Bitnomial, Chicago-headquartered digital assets futures exchange. The latter decided to go after the SEC in a preemptive move as the regulator is allegedly overreaching their statutory authority.
Garlinghouse also stressed that the team of his firm Ripple will be closely watching the legal developments in the Bitnomial v. SEC proceeding and explore its own opportunities to hold the law enforcers accountable.
As covered by U.Today previously, Ripple filed a cross-appeal of the U.S. court's final judgment that ordered the firm to pay a $125 million fine.
The SEC is also appealing the August 2024 ruling and is expanding its attempts to prove that XRP always was a security and should have been regulated accordingly.
No, XRP futures cannot be regulated by SEC: Bitnomial goes after regulator
In a brand-new lawsuit, the Bitnomial platform stated that it already self-certified its XRP-based derivative offering with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. As such, the letter from the SEC about the security status of the XRP contract might provoke an enforcement conflict.
In a comment for Law.com, Bitnomial's attorney Matthew F. Kluchenek of Katten Muchin Rosenman explains that this lawsuit is of paramount importance for such products in the U.S. and firms who offer them to traders.
This is about future contracts and who has jurisdiction over the trading of futures contracts. There is no question there is a regulator here. But should it just be the CFTC, or should it be jointly the SEC and CFTC? I am not aware of any litigation out there that tackles this issue of the security future component and seeks a declaration from that perspective
As such, Bitnomial seeks a declaration from District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that XRP contracts are not security futures.
Moreover, Bitnomial seeks to enjoin the SEC from asserting jurisdiction over XRP futures and taking any other action regarding their offering.