XRP case hero? Ripple CEO praises lawyers for defeating the SEC

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, has been doing it for a while, publicly recognised Stuart Aldeloty, the company’s chief legal officer, to provide effective leadership to the company and contributed to the entire crypto industry.

Through a social media post, Garlinghouse has highlighted the recent national law review profile that outlines the pivotal role of Aldeoty, the so-called XRP case, one of the most important court decisions in the crypto industry to date.

This article details Ripple’s legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that began in late 2020. The sale of XRP’s Ripple was an argument that the sale of XRP’s Ripple, which granted its ruling that it granted widespread control over digital assets in the US market, constituted an unregistered securities offering.

Just before the lawsuit, Aldeloty joined Ripple and was tasked with leading the company’s defense. An important part of the strategy was to oppose the idea that XRP tokens themselves could be treated as security, especially in secondary market transactions.

It took more than three years of lawsuits to reach the ruling passed in mid-2023. XRP has been confirmed to be not security in itself, setting a strong industry-wide precedent and seriously restricting the SEC’s ability to act.

The legal costs of the case cost more than $150 million, but this case clearly changed how crypto regulations are approached.

Just as Ripple is moving forward, so is Aldelory. In fact, earlier this year he took on a new role as chairman of the National Cryptocurrency Association, a group dedicated to rebuilding public conversations about cryptocurrencies.