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Ripple spent a record $700,000 on lobbying in 2020

Photo of: Joseph Stone
by Joseph Stone

In 2020, the XRP issuer spent US$690,000 in the United States on its lobbying operations, reports Cointelegraph. Ripple supplants all other crypto players, including the giant Coinbase. However, their expenses were not enough to spare them the SEC’s complaint.

In 2020, Ripple was very active in the field of lobbying. The company regularly insists on the need to bring more legal clarity to the crypto market. And its investment in this area should not slow down in 2021.

At the end of last year, Ripple (XRP) recruited Sandie O’Connor, former regulatory director of JPMorgan Chase. But more importantly, the company is facing a serious threat: the SEC complaint.

In any case, its lobbying expenses in 2020 were not enough to reassure or convince the regulator. Among the crypto players, however, Ripple occupies the first step of the podium. The company allocated a massive investment to their lobbying activities in the United States.

In comparison, Coinbase devoted 230,000 dollars to lobbying in the US in 2020. As for the Diem Association, the former Libra Association, its budget was just under $200,000.

The issuer of the stablecoin Diem and Ripple also have one thing in common: FS Vector. Both organizations use the services of the same service provider specialized in lobbying. It should also be noted that in mid-2020, Ripple dismantled its own internal team of lobbyists.

The company now relies solely on its partner FS Vector for its lobbying activities. And it is likely that FS Vector will have a lot to do in 2021 to make Ripple’s arguments heard.

The company will have to convince the SEC and the courts of the nature of its XRP token. For the regulator, it is a security, i.e. a financial security. On the contrary, its issuer believes that it falls into the same category as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

But these arguments did not convince the previous SEC management team. According to the SEC, “the overwhelming majority of Ripple’s revenues came from its sales of XRP, and Ripple relied on those sales to finance its operations. ยป