JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) – Problems for a cryptocurrency outfit called Ripple Labs continue, as a new class action lawsuit follows litigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC’s lawsuit says Ripple has sold more than $1.38 billion in XRP tokens without registering them as securities with federal or state authorities.
The Jan. 25 class action targets sales to Florida investors that it says violated the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act.
“(A)fter the filing of the SEC suit, several major cryptocurrency exchanges have elected to delist XRP, ostensibly to avoid liability for selling an unregistered security,” the suit says. “This includes major exchanges Coinbase, Binance.US, OkCoin, and most recently Blockchain.com.
“Through this strategy, Ripple has raised well over a billion dollars through the sale of XRP, which has been used to fund the company’s operations, as well as substantially enriching Ripple’s executives, to the tune of $600 million.
“Defendants still hold substantial XRP that they can continue to monetize, while creating substantial risk to investors. As such, injunctive relief is appropriate.”
Sara Westcot of Bursor & Fisher is representing the plaintiffs.