Jason Calacanis, an entrepreneur and angel investor from the United States who founded WeBlog (a now-defunct platform), has joined others in stating that XRP should be classified as a security. He made this statement recently while discussing the costs Ripple has incurred in its ongoing legal battle with the US SEC.
“XRP is obviously a security”, According to Calacanis’s tweet. In his opinion, Ripple’s best course of action would have been to register XRP as a security with the SEC. He thinks that this step could have been done with minimal costs and might have helped them avoid the expenses associated with the lawsuit.
During an interview with CNBC, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse disclosed that Ripple is expected to spend as much as $200 million in its ongoing legal battle with the SEC by the time the lawsuit is resolved. Which led to Calacanis’ statement.
Calacanis thinks that Ripple could have prevented the expensive legal battle by simply registering XRP as a security like many other industry players. However, this comment has faced criticism as most cryptocurrency companies have not registered their tokens as securities due to the lack of clear guidelines from the SEC.
Crypto Executives React to Latest Industry Developments on XRP
“Go try to register a digital asset as a security before you make ridiculous statements like this,” says Mike Belshe, the co-founder and CEO of digital asset trust company BitGo, Responding to Calacanis’s statement. Also adds saying “this is an ignorant view”.
Jason Calacanis is well-known for his angel investing skills and has invested in some of the most successful startups in recent years, including Uber, Tumblr, and Calm. However, some experts in the industry think that he lacks knowledge of securities laws.
Following this another leader, Jacob Franek, co-founder and former COO of Coin Metrics, stated “It bears repeating over and over — the asset itself, XRP, is highly unlikely to be a security. Your job is literally investing. You should try actually educating yourself on securities laws,”
Calacanis is not alone in his opinion. Lee Bratcher, the President of the Texas Blockchain Council, and many others share the same belief that XRP is a security. Bratcher had made this statement in December of last year.