Last week, the legal battle between the SEC and Ripple that had been raging for 3 years was finally settled, at least partially.
Although Judge Analisa Torres ruled that some primary sales of XRP should have been registered as securities offerings, the secondary sale of the asset does not count as unlicensed securities.
The case may yet go to trial, and financial penalties for the primary sales of XRP may still occur. However, the ruling cleared Ripple’s name as far as using XRP to facilitate money transfers, which in the past not only made potential customers cautious against engaging with the company – it also lost them its biggest customer, Moneygram.
Brad Garlinghouse – Ripple’s CEO – previously stated that the court’s decision will allow the firm to pursue new moneymaking avenues again.
Furthermore, Garlinghouse believes the outcome of this landmark case will be beneficial for the entire industry, not just Ripple.
“For the SEC, it is really an overreach to suggest, as the Chair has said many times, that basically, everything in the crypto space is a security. Well, you now have a judge who is very clearly saying that is just not true and very clearly saying XRP is not a security on exchanges and all these different use cases, which I think helps the whole industry, for sure.”
Now that the dust has settled, Stu Alderoty, Ripple’s general counsel, revealed that the company will begin talks with new potential clients starting in the third quarter, which is only 2 weeks away.
According to Alderoty, Ripple will seek to enter deals with firms in the American banking sector. Chief among target customers are banks and payment processors who do business abroad, as Ripple’s XRP token eliminates the need for pre-funded banks on the receiving end.
“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. […] 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.”
Although most of Ripple’s revenue is reportedly generated outside of the U.S., this was more a matter of necessity due to the legal troubles. Now that those have largely been done away with, Ripple is looking to pivot strongly towards U.S. business partners yet again.