US authorities accused Ripple of illegally selling $ 1.3 billion tokens

Ripple Labs Inc., its co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse raised more than $ 1.3 billion through the sale of unregistered securities under the guise of XRP tokens, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The financial regulator has made formal charges.

The SEC alleges that Larsen and Garlinghouseillegally raised capital to finance the company's business. Since 2013, Ripple has been selling XRP, which is an unregistered security, a representative of the financial regulator emphasized. He added that Larsen and Garlinghouse sold tokens totaling about $600 million for their own enrichment. The company also distributed several billion XRP for salaries, market making and other services.

“Ripple, Larsen and Garlinghouse have not registeredits continued offering and sale of billions of XRP to retail investors, which has limited potential purchasers' access to proper knowledge of XRP and Ripple's business and other important information,” said SEC Enforcement Director Stephanie Avakian.

The financial regulator is seeking an injunction, the seizure of illegal income with interest pending a decision and the collection of fines.

Over the past 24 hours, the average market rate of XRPdecreased by 20%, from the local maximum on November 24 at $0.78 - by 54%, to the current levels of $0.37. The asset lost third place among the largest cryptocurrencies by capitalization, losing to the stablecoin Tether, whose rate is pegged to the US dollar.

Yesterday, December 22, Garlinghouse reported thatThe SEC is preparing a lawsuit against Ripple and has revealed the details of the charge. The CEO of the company called the decision of the financial regulator "an attack on the entire cryptoindustry and American innovations."

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More details at RBC:
www.rbc.ru/crypto/news/5fe2e6089a79475521e96b5b?from=from_main_9