Jay Clayton, the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), submitted his resignation to President Trump after spending more than three years as SEC’s head. Clayton’s last day at office cost the cryptocurrency market more than $50 billion as his latest action against Ripple triggered a massive sell-off in XRP, Ethereum and Bitcoin.
In the submitted resignation letter, Clayton outlined his mission to protect investors. Under his chairmanship, the SEC adopted a strict stance against cryptocurrencies and charged several companies involved in crypto offerings, including Block one and Telegram.
Clayton recognized Bitcoin as a payment system and accepted inefficiencies in the current payment mechanisms. During an interview with CNBC, Clayton said: “We determined that bitcoin was not a security, it was much more a payment mechanism and stored value. Our current payment mechanisms have inefficiencies those inefficiencies are the things that are driving the rise of bitcoin.”
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It seems like Clayton has a different opinion about XRP, while he dismissed the option to recognize Bitcoin and Ethereum as a security, the SEC termed XRP as a security in the latest action against Ripple.
Cryptocurrency Crash
The latest action by the SEC Chairman caused a massive sell-off in the cryptocurrency market. XRP crashed more than 50% in just two days as the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency dropped from $0.56 to $0.23. The price of XRP is currently trading around $0.25. Bitcoin and Ethereum also reacted to the recent action by the SEC and dropped below $23,000 and $600, respectively. The overall market cap of cryptocurrencies now stands at around $610 billion, which is down from $660 billion yesterday. The cryptocurrency market reached the lowest market capitalization since December 17.
“We’ve always said that there is a lack of regulatory clarity for crypto in the US, and the SEC here in the United States has sat back and watched for years. In fact, the discussion around why XRP is a currency (and not a security) is one we have been having with the SEC for nearly three years and yet we’ve never been met with clarity. We have, however, explained that XRP is not a security,” Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse said in a statement.
