Top US Crypto Exchange Coinbase Reestablishes Support for XRP Trading in New York

Coinbase has reestablished trading support for XRP in the state of New York.

The top US crypto exchange by trading volume first suspended XRP trading across the country shortly after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kicked off its lawsuit against Ripple in late 2020.

The SEC alleged Ripple sold XRP as an unregistered security.

That suspension was lifted last July after US District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the San Francisco payment company’s automated, open-market sales of XRP did not constitute security sales. Coinbase immediately relisted XRP, though the exchange excluded New York users from trading the asset.

Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, says the exchange “put in the work in strong partnership with the State” to get XRP relisted in New York.

XRP is trading at $0.517 at time of writing. The eighth-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down more than 2.5% in the past 24 hours.

Ripple and the SEC’s legal battle is still ongoing despite the payment company’s partial victory last summer: Judge Torres did agree with the SEC’s claim that Ripple’s sale of XRP directly to institutional buyers constituted a securities offering.

In March, the SEC asked the court to order Ripple to pay $876,308,712 in disgorgement, $198,150,940 in prejudgment interest, and a $876,308,712 civil penalty, which totals around $1.95 billion.

Last month, Ripple filed an opposition to the SEC’s motion, arguing that the court should deny the SEC’s requests for an injunction, disgorgement, and pre-judgment interest. The firm also suggested the civil penalty should be no more than $10 million.

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