Ripple’s Asia expansion unaffected by SEC lawsuit, says CEO

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says the company’s activities in the Asia-Pacific region have not been affected by current regulatory troubles in the United States.

Despite being in the middle of a $1.3 billion lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, it appears that it is still business as usual for Ripple.

Speaking to Reuters on Friday, Garlinghouse revealed that the company has not suffered any negative blowback in the APAC business theatre amid the current SEC lawsuit:

“It (the lawsuit) has hindered activity in the United States, but it has not really impacted what’s going on for us in Asia Pacific.”

In December 2020, the SEC charged Ripple and its principal executives of violating securities laws in the sale of XRP tokens since 2013.

Garlinghouse attributed the absence of any fallout to the company’s good standing with regulators in the region, stating, “We have been able to continue to grow the business in Asia and Japan because we’ve had regulatory clarity in those markets.”

Indeed, Japan and other APAC countries have historically been favorable for Ripple and XRP. Ripple is even part of a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate SBI Holdings to form SBI Ripple. The JV firm is at the heart of numerous projects aimed at creating a Ripple-powered payment corridor in Asia.

In March 2020, the blockchain payments firm expanded further into Southeast Asia, inking a partnership with DeeMoney, a Thai fintech outfit.

Garlinghouse also played down the effects of U.S. exchanges delisting or halting the trading of XRP tokens. According to the Ripple CEO, over 200 platforms across the world list XRP trading pairs.

Apart from U.S. crypto exchanges, asset managers and cryptocurrency funds like Bitwise and Grayscale have also liquidated their XRP holdings.

Back in December, the Ripple chief revealed that only 5% of the company’s customers were domiciled stateside. Garlinghouse has even stated previously that the company was mulling a move outside of the U.S. if the regulatory environment fails to improve.

Meanwhile, both Garlinghouse and Ripple’s executive chairman, Chris Larsen have moved to file separate motions for the case to be dismissed. Attorneys for both company executives say the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has previously classified XRP as a virtual currency.