There have been several news stories in recent hours concerning Ripple, the real-time funds transfer system and network for exchanging currencies and sending remittances, whose native crypto is XRP.
In fact, Ripple recently announced who will be its new president as the lawsuit XRP against the SEC is coming to a close. In addition, the cryptocurrency predictions of Ripple’s professional lawyer John Deaton raise several concerns, as they are anything but positive.
Finally, Ripple’s CTO, David “JoelKatz” Schwartz, expressed his theory about who he thinks Satoshi Nakamoto might be. Let’s take a step-by-step look at what happened.
Summary
Ripple’s new president Monica Long
Ripple Labs recently announced a new president as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against the payments platform nears its conclusion.
In a new company blog post, Ripple says Monica Long, senior vice president and general manager of the company, will be promoted to president. In fact, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said:
“Even in the current challenging crypto environment, Monica has helped steer Ripple to a truly unique place of growth and financial strength. She has been a key advisor to me over the years, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to work even more closely with her as she embarks on her role as president.”
Long, who began working for Ripple in 2013 when the company had only ten employees, was promoted to the position of chief executive officer in 2020 and says she is looking forward to kicking things off as the company’s new president.
In fact, Monica Long stated on the subject:
“Over half of my professional career has been in cryptocurrencies and more importantly Ripple. I am incredibly honored and ready to take the field as president.”
As for the SEC lawsuit against Ripple, we know that the SEC initially sued Ripple Labs in December 2020 on charges that XRP was issued as an unregistered security and still is today.
Earlier this month, Garlinghouse said that the chances of Ripple settling with the SEC are virtually zero and further stated that the lawsuit could end this year:
“We expect a decision from the judge definitely in 2023. But you really have no control over when a judge makes his decisions. I’m optimistic that at some point in the next number of single-digit months we will have closure.”
John Deaton, Ripple lawyer, on crypto: grim predictions
CryptoLaw founder John Deaton believes the final and most aggressive push to shut down cryptocurrencies may soon be witnessed in the wake of the White House statement on mitigating the risks associated with cryptocurrencies.
In fact, Deaton, a professional advocate for Ripple, wrote on Twitter:
We will soon witness the final and most aggressive push to shut down crypto. https://t.co/w4O23zbN40
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) January 28, 2023
It all stems from the statement released by the White House titled “The Administration’s Roadmap to Mitigate Cryptocurrency Risks,” dated 27 January. The statement reads:
“We have spent the past year identifying the risks of cryptocurrencies and taking action to mitigate them using the authorities available to the executive branch. For example, Congress should expand the powers of regulators to prevent misuse of client assets – which hurt investors and distort prices – and to mitigate conflicts of interest.”
In addition, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has increased its crackdown on the cryptocurrency market under Chairman Gary Gensler, who was appointed to the position in April 2021.
As it stands, the SEC is attempting to expand its claim to authority, as Gensler has repeatedly stated that the agency intends to be the primary regulator of the cryptocurrency market in the United States.
Gensler believes that almost any other cryptographic token besides Bitcoin could be a security and has pursued some recent actions. In fact, as mentioned earlier, Ripple is currently in the midst of a legal battle with the SEC, which alleges that the $1.3 billion XRP sale constituted an unregistered security offering.
In any case, Ripple executives expressed their views on cryptocurrency regulation earlier this year. Among them, General Counsel Stu Alderoty anticipates the judge’s ruling in Ripple’s SEC case in the first half of 2023, with a favorable ruling for Ripple.
Indeed, Alderoty believes this will be the catalyst needed to advance the cryptocurrency industry in the United States and prevent companies from relocating their crypto work.
The theory of Ripple’s CTO on Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity
Over the years, many enthusiasts have put forth varying theories about the character behind the creation of Bitcoin. Even Elon Musk has revealed the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, in his own way, but the mystery continues to hover in the crypto space.
The latest, but by no means least, to expose himself in this regard was Ripple’s CTO, David “JoelKatz” Schwartz, who in the course of a discussion exposed and confirmed the theory he most believes in.
Specifically, the discussion stemmed from a tweet by Mr. Huber, an enthusiast who believes that Satoshi never left and even holds the bulk of his fortune in wallets scattered around the world.
The odds of this being true, again according to the user, would be even higher if it were assumed that in fact a collective of developers is behind Satoshi Nakamoto’s pseudonym.
Schwartz at this point skeptically pointed out that it is difficult to think that anyone could have “forgotten” to claim billions of dollars. Indeed, there is a case to be made that it is thought that Nakamoto may still hold about 1,000,000 BTC (over $20 billion) and that barely 10 BTC of this has been moved.
Another user later speculated that this entity may have lost the access keys, thus leaving this halo of mystery so as not to admit the unvarnished truth.
Schwarz admits he can give credence to this theory, advancing in turn that perhaps a team member may have made a mistake or even died, taking the access keys with him.
