Ripple says U.S. banks will want to use XRP cryptocurrency after partial victory in SEC fight

cnbc.com:

Blockchain startup Ripple is confident U.S. banks and other financial institutions in the country will start showing interest in adopting its XRP cryptocurrency in cross-border payments after a landmark ruling determined the token was not, in itself, necessarily a security.

The San Francisco-based firm expects to start talks with American financial firms about using its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) product, which uses XRP for money transfers, in the third quarter, Stu Alderoty, Ripple's general counsel, told CNBC in an interview last week.

Last week, a New York judge delivered a watershed ruling for Ripple determining that XRP itself is «not necessarily a security on its face,» contesting, in part, claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the company.

Ripple has been fighting the SEC for the past three years over allegations from the agency that Ripple and two of its executives conducted an illegal offering of $1.3 billion worth via sales of XRP. Ripple disputed the claims, insisting XRP cannot be considered a security and is more akin to a commodity.

Ripple's business suffered as a result, with the company losing at least one customer and investor. MoneyGram, the U.S. money transfer giant, ditched its partnership with Ripple in March 2021.

Meanwhile, Tetragon, a U.K.-based investor that previously backed Ripple, sold its stake back to Ripple after unsuccessfully trying to sue the company to redeem its cash.

Asked whether the ruling meant that American banks would return to Ripple to use its ODL product, Alderoty said: «I think the answer to that is yes.»

Ripple also uses blockchain in its business to send messages between banks, kind of like a blockchain-based alternative to Swift.

«I think we're