Jason Calacanis, an American entrepreneur, angel investor, and founder of WeBlog, has joined others in claiming that XRP is a security. He recently reiterated his confidence in this statement while commenting on Ripple’s expenses due to the ongoing lawsuit with the US SEC.
In a recent tweet, Jason Calacanis stated, “XRP is obviously a security.” He suggested that Ripple’s best course of action would have been to register XRP with the SEC as a security, which he believed would have been inexpensive and potentially helped them avoid the expenses incurred from the lawsuit.
Jason Calacanis’ remarks were prompted by a recent disclosure made by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse during an interview with CNBC. Garlinghouse disclosed that Ripple is expected to have spent a total of $200 million on legal expenses by the end of their long-standing lawsuit against the SEC.
Jason Calacanis’ suggestion that Ripple should have registered XRP with the SEC has been met with criticism. Many crypto entities have not registered their native tokens as securities due to the lack of clear guidelines from the SEC. Therefore, it may not be fair to suggest that registering XRP as a security would have been an easy and straightforward solution to avoid the lawsuit expenses.
XRP is obviously a security
— @jason (@Jason) May 9, 2023
It would have cost little for the Ripple team to have registered it as a security and played by the rules —- like everyone else in the industry does all day long $xrp pic.twitter.com/Yxga686tBZ
Related article: Ripple to Tap Dubai’s Growing Crypto Market with Expansion Plans
Giant Firm Owners React
In response to Jason Calacanis’ suggestion, Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo, criticized his comments as stemming from an “ignorant view.” “Go try to register a digital asset as a security before you make ridiculous statements like this.” he argued.
While Calacanis is widely recognized for his success in angel investing and backing prominent startups like Uber, Tumblr, and Calm, some industry experts believe he may be uninformed regarding securities laws.
“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,” Jacob Franek, co-founder and former COO of Coin Metrics, stated.
It appears that Calacanis is not alone in his opinion that XRP is a security. Last December, Lee Bratcher, the President of the Texas Blockchain Council, shared similar sentiments, stating that he and many others believe XRP to be a security.