As Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) continue to bombard cryptocurrency investors left and right, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has stated that entrepreneurs issuing digital tokens would be wise to “save some of those proceeds” for impending lawsuits. Garlinghouse told CNBC at Singapore’s Money 20/20 conference:
Entrepreneurs need to be [going in with their] eyes wide open […] The winners are going to be the lawyers, because they’re going to help you issue the token and then they’re going to help you defend it. Better sometimes to focus on solving real problems for real customers, and not worry about running infrastructure for a token issue, getting listed on exchanges and all the steps that come with that.
According to reports cited by CNBC, ICOs raised $3.8 billion in 2017. That’s a lot of money for a largely unregulated space with minimal protections for investors. Worse yet, roughly 46 percent of ICOs launched last year have already failed.
The CEO of cryptocurrency’s largest centralized company also unsurprisingly supported the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent decision, which requires platforms offering “trading of digital assets that are securities” to register. He told CNBC:
There’s a lot of goodness going on, you can leverage blockchain and how you leverage digital assets to solve real problems […] I think most of the ICOs you’re seeing are not real token use cases. They’re really securities, so I think the SEC should regulate that.
RIPPLE IS FIGHTING ITS OWN LEGAL BATTLE
The CEO of Ripple knows a thing or two about lawyers and legal fees.
Recently, a San Francisco state appeals court has denied Ripple’s attempt to expedite an appeal which would resolve a lawsuit against R3 Holdco.
Instead, the lawsuit will likely play out in a New York court — something Ripple is definitely not keen on, claiming the company would likely face “irreparable injury.”