San Francisco-based blockchain firm Ripple has announced that it will continue with its operations even as it faces a lawsuit
The firm said that the current legal troubles will not throw a spoke in the wheels of operation or handicap progress. Considering the current circumstances, this is a bold claim from Ripple—XRP’s issuing company. Ripple demurred SEC actions saying they would harm ‘innocent’ retail XRP users. The SEC lawsuit has stymied XRP trading activity as many exchanges have announced plans to delist the token from their sites.
So far, several major exchanges such as Beaxy, Bittrex, Bitstamp, Coinbase and BitWise have either delisted the token or announced the suspension of XRP trading, worsening the token’s trajectory. Institutional investors have seemingly started to walk away from the token as well. Giant crypto investment firm Grayscale delineated on its website that its “XRP Trust private placement is currently closed”.
The blockchain company announced that all its products will still be available in the US adding that the bulk of XRP trading volume takes place outside the US under clear regulatory rules. The executives maintain that the company’s operation won’t be hampered by US-based companies and exchanges that have suspended XRP trading.
The company did not mention anything in the lines of its On-Demand Liquidity services and it remains unclear if the lack of exchange on-ramps will affect the cross-border payment product.
Elsewhere, crypto research firm The TIE has labelled the current slump in XRP market cap as the ‘third-largest collapse of all time’. XRP’s valuation has dropped to about $10 billion from its highest market capitalisation of $137 billion that was recorded in 2018. These figures translate to a 93% descent.
The TIE’s Josh Frank equated this nosedive to the collapse of major financial institutions. According to the research firm, the token has seen more fall in value than former energy, commodities and services company Enron.
“XRP’s market cap has fallen by 93% from $137B to under $10B. That makes the value of the XRP collapse bigger than Enron and WorldCom. While not a bankruptcy, XRP is effectively the third-largest collapse of all-time behind Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual”, he wrote on Twitter.
Lehman Brothers had a loss of over $690 billion before an eventual shutdown in 2008 whereas Washington Mutual recorded a plunge north of $325 billion.