Caroline Pham, one of five commissioners of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, met with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse ahead of a court decision that could affect how regulators handle XRP tokens.
In a Monday tweet, Pham said who visited the offices of Ripple Labs as part of a “learning tour” that involves cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology. garlinghouse tweeted later that the commissioner’s visit was related to “public-private engagement”, likely referring to a private finance company like Ripple that engages with US regulators.
The next stop on my learning tour was visiting @Ripple Labs Thanks @bgarlinghouse! #XRP #crypto #blockchain pic.twitter.com/ICr8H2ZE3q
— Caroline D. Pham (@CarolineDPham) September 19, 2022
The timing of Pham’s visit caused many on social media to react to the CFTC’s approach to engaging with cryptocurrency firms and token projects compared to that of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. On Saturday, the SEC and Ripple filed motions for summary judgment in a case alleging the firm’s XRP sales violated securities laws. The case has been ongoing since December 2020.
The outcome of the SEC case could influence which federal regulator could play a greater role in handling the XRP token as a commodity or security. garlinghouse he claimed on Saturday that the SEC was “not interested in enforcing the law” and alleged that the regulator was seeking to “expand its jurisdiction far beyond the authority granted to it by Congress.”
Under the chairmanship of Gary Gensler, the SEC has carried out many enforcement actions against cryptocurrency projects and related areas. The regulatory body labeled nine tokens as “crypto asset securities” falling under its purview in the July complaint against a former Coinbase product manager, what caused Pham’s criticism at the time.
Cointelegraph reached out to the CFTC but did not receive a response at the time of publication of this story.
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