SEC v. Ripple: Attorneys leave SEC side, both groups add new lawyers
Multiple attorneys have moved in and out of the lawsuit between Ripple Labs, its executives and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, as signified by court filings on Aug. 23.
The latest motions filed were requesting permission to withdraw attorneys Richard Best and Robert MacDonald Moye from the trial, with the former having the motion immediately granted due to extended medical leave. Moye’s withdrawal is still pending a decision from Judge Analisa Torres.
Earlier the same day, a motion was filed for attorney Pascale Guerrier to be dismissed from the case. This request was also promptly granted by the judge.
In a game of legal musical chairs, also on Aug. 23, Judge Torres approved attorney Michael A. Schulman for Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, along with attorneys Marc J. Jones and Peter Bryan Moores to represent the SEC.
In response to the changes, the crypto community has taken its opinions to social media.
Some users remarked that the attorneys leaving the side of the SEC “don’t want their name tied to the wrong side of history.” Another commented on the timing, saying:
SEC has lawyers quitting before the ship sinks completely
— XRPcryptowolf (@XRPcryptowolf) August 23, 2023
However, some don’t find the situation as pressing. Prominent crypto lawyer John E. Deaton responded that these changes “mean nothing” in the grand scheme of the case.
This means nothing. Guerrier could be reassigned or could be leaving the SEC. She started working more on the Ripple case after Tenreiro got a promotion (although he still is in charge of the case) and Attorney Bliss left the SEC to go work for BlockFi. Tenreiro had Guerrier…
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) August 23, 2023
Deaton also recently commented on the effects of the ongoing legal activities between the SEC and Ripple, saying that the lawsuit has cost XRP 3 years of adoption.
He argued that there have been multiple instances of big entities in the crypto space, such as Coinbase, contacting the SEC for regulatory clarification prior to listing XRP but didn’t face any objections.
Related: Gen Z in South Korea prefers XRP and other altcoins to BTC and ETH: Report
Recently, the CTO of Ripple, David Schwartz, commented on the situation and highlighted its complexity after the SEC’s motion to appeal was granted. He said it is seeking an appeal at this specific point due to its own interpretation of the case not being yet concluded.
The lawsuit against Ripple is not the only crypto-related case the SEC is involved in at the moment.
It has long-standing involvement in a case against the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which has recently received support from Senator Cindy Lumis for the exchange’s dismissal motion against the SEC.
The exchanges Gemini and Binance.US both have ongoing legal matters involving the financial regulator.
The SEC has continued its aggressive clamp down on the crypto space with a new charge against the crypto investment manager Titan, on Aug. 21 for misleading advertising claims.
On Aug. 23 it also charged a former U.S. corrections officer for having a role in a pump-and-dump-like crypto scam.
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Stablecoin issuer Circle has secured regulatory approval to operate as a financial service provider in the Abu Dhabi International Financial Center, deepening its push into the United Arab Emirates.
In an announcement Tuesday, Circle Internet Group said it received a Financial Services Permission license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the International Financial Centre of Abu Dhabi. This allows the stablecoin issuer to operate as a Money Services Provider in the IFC.
The USDC (USDC) issuer also appointed Saeeda Jaffar as its managing director for Circle Middle East and Africa. The new executive also serves as a senior vice president and group country manager for the Gulf Operation Council at Visa and will be tasked with developing the stablecoin issuer’s regional strategy and partnerships.
Circle co-founder, chairman and CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the relevant regulatory framework “sets a high bar for transparency, risk management, and consumer protection,” adding that those standards are needed if “trusted stablecoins” are going to support payments and finance at scale.
Related: Abu Dhabi Investment Council triples stake in Bitcoin ETF in Q3: Report
Abu Dhabi awards a wave of licenses
The ADGM has recently awarded licenses for financial operations to a wave of crypto companies. Earlier this week, Tether’s USDt (USDT) — the largest stablecoin by circulation and Circle’s top competitor — secured a regulatory milestone in Abu Dhabi’s international financial center, as did Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin Ripple USD at the end of November.
On Monday, crypto exchange Binance was granted three separate licenses from Abu Dhabi’s financial regulator, allowing it to operate its exchange, clearing house and broker-dealer services. This followed its competitor Bybit receiving regulatory approval in the UAE in early October.
Related: HSBC to bring tokenized deposits to US and UAE as stablecoin race heats up
UAE bets on crypto
The Central Bank of the UAE has been actively reviewing its cryptocurrency regulations. In November, it introduced rules for decentralized finance (DeFi) and the broader Web3 industry.
The newly introduced Federal Decree Law No. 6 of 2025 brings DeFi platforms, related services and infrastructure providers under the scope of regulations if they enable payments, exchange, lending, custody, or investment services, with licenses now required. Local crypto lawyer Irina Heaver said that “DeFi projects can no longer avoid regulation by claiming they are just code.”
Heaver told Cointelegraph at the end of 2024 that during that year the country cemented its status as a global crypto hub.
In October 2024, the UAE exempted cryptocurrency transfers and conversions from value-added tax, just a month after Dubai’s digital asset regulator announced stricter rules on crypto marketing. Around the same time, local free economic zone Ras Al Khaimah Digital Assets Oasis was also working to introduce a legal framework for decentralized autonomous organizations.
Local regulators were not shy about enforcing the rules, with Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority cracking down on seven unlicensed crypto businesses, issuing fines and cease-and-desist orders.
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Crypto companies seeking a US federal bank charter should be treated no differently than other financial institutions, says Jonathan Gould, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
Gould told a blockchain conference on Monday that some new charter applicants in the digital or fintech spaces could be seen as offering novel activities for a national trust bank, but noted “custody and safekeeping services have been happening electronically for decades.”
“There is simply no justification for considering digital assets differently,” he added. “Additionally, it is important that we do not confine banks, including current national trust banks, to the technologies or businesses of the past.”
The OCC regulates national banks and has previously seen crypto companies as a risk to the banking system. Only two crypto banks are OCC-licensed: Anchorage Digital, which has held a charter since 2021, and Erebor, which got a preliminary banking charter in October.
Crypto “should have” a way to supervision
Gould said that the banking system has the “capacity to evolve from the telegraph to the blockchain.”
He added that the OCC had received 14 applications to start a new bank so far this year, “including some from entities engaged in novel or digital asset activities,” which was nearly equal to the number of similar applications that the OCC received over the last four years.
“Chartering helps ensure that the banking system continues to keep pace with the evolution of finance and supports our modern economy,” he added. “That is why entities that engage in activities involving digital assets and other novel technologies should have a pathway to become federally supervised banks.”
Gould brushes off banks’ concerns
Gould noted that banks and financial trade groups had raised concerns about crypto companies getting banking charters and the OCC’s ability to oversee them.
Related: Argentina weighs letting traditional banks trade crypto: Report
“Such concerns risk reversing innovations that would better serve bank customers and support local economies,” he said. “The OCC has also had years of experience supervising a crypto-native national trust bank.”
Gould said the regulator was “hearing from existing national banks, on a near daily basis, about their own initiatives for exciting and innovative products and services.”
“All of this reinforces my confidence in the OCC’s ability to effectively supervise new entrants as well as new activities of existing banks in a fair and even-handed manner,” he added.
Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued updated guidance for tokenized collateral in derivatives markets, paving the way for a pilot program to test how cryptocurrencies can be used as collateral in derivatives markets.
Collateral in derivatives markets serves as a security deposit, acting as a guarantee to ensure that a trader can cover any potential losses.
The digital asset pilot, announced by CFTC acting chairman Caroline Pham on Monday, will allow futures commission merchants (FCM) — a company that facilitates futures trades for clients — to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Circle’s stablecoin USDC (USDC) for margin collateral.
The CFTC pilot is another step toward integrating crypto into regulated markets, and Circle CEO Heath Tarbert said it will also protect customers, reduce settlement frictions and assist with risk reduction.
Pham said in a statement that the pilot program also “establishes clear guardrails to protect customer assets and provides enhanced CFTC monitoring and reporting.”
As part of the pilot, participating FCMs will be subject to strict reporting criteria, which require weekly reports on total customer holdings and any significant issues that may affect the use of crypto as collateral.
Updated CFTC guidance for tokenized assets
The CFTC’s Market Participants Division, Division of Market Oversight, and Division of Clearing and Risk also issued updated guidance on the use of tokenized assets as collateral in the trading of futures and swaps.
The guidance covers tokenized real-world assets, including US Treasury’s money market funds, and topics such as eligible tokenized assets, legal enforceability, segregation and control arrangements.
Pham said in an X post on Monday that the “guidance provides regulatory clarity and opens the door for more digital assets to be added as collateral by exchanges and brokers, in addition to US Treasurys and money market funds.”
The Market Participants Division also issued a “no-action position” on specific requirements regarding the use of payment stablecoins as customer margin collateral and the holding of certain proprietary payment stablecoins in segregated customer accounts.
A CFTC Staff Advisory that restricted FCMs’ ability to accept crypto as customer collateral, Staff Advisory 20-34, was also withdrawn because it is “outdated and no longer relevant,” in part due to the GENIUS Act.
Crypto execs back CFTC move
Several crypto executives applauded the move by the CFTC.
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, the general counsel at blockchain company StarkWare, said the use of “tokenized collateral in the derivatives markets is MASSIVE.”
Related: US regulators dismiss SEC-CFTC merger rumors, move to dispel crypto ‘FUD’
“Atomic settlement, transparency, automation, capital efficiency, savings. Feels abrupt but who recalls the tokenization summit in 2/24, a glimmer of hope in the darkness,” she said.
Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal also supported the action, calling Staff Advisory 20-34 a “concrete ceiling on innovation.”
“It relied on outdated info, went well beyond the bounds of regulation and frustrated the goals of the PWG.”
Salman Banaei, the general counsel at layer-1 blockchain the Plume Network, said it was a “major move” by the CFTC, and another push toward wider adoption.
“This is a step toward the use of onchain infra to automate settlement for the biggest asset class in the world: OTC derivatives, swaps,” he added.
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