XRP jumps thanks to SEC news while Coinbase opens European HQ in Ireland

XRP, the coin of Ripple Labs, forced another victory in it’s yearlong court case against the SEC after the latter dropped charges against Ripple Labs executives. The SEC has vowed to continue the case against the company though.

The news was welcomed by the so-called XRP army, the legion of XRP fans on social media.

JUST IN: $XRP surges nearly 10% as SEC drops lawsuit against #Ripple executives, after 3-year long legal battle. pic.twitter.com/bjsXYv7jOx

— WhaleWire (@WhaleWire) October 19, 2023

As we read at the FTX trial how bad the hostility between Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao (CEO of Binance) got in 2022, Coinbase (the third player in this group of crypto behemoths) seems to be trying to leave America in 2023.

CEO Brian Armstrong’s company (which is being investigated by the SEC in the United States) opened a new European headquarters in Ireland, which is also home to Apple and Google (thanks to Dublin’s very good corporate tax regime, of course).

MiCA

Earlier this year, Armstrong arranged a license for Coinbase to operate from Bermuda if needed, but he has now chosen to transfer part of his operations to the European Union. This is mainly because they think the Mica regulations that the EU has developed for crypto trading are quite good.

Coinbase $COIN has chosen Ireland as its main operational and regulatory hub in the European Union 🇪🇺 - CNBC

— Evan (@StockMKTNewz) October 19, 2023

Earlier this year, Coinbase declared in a blog post that it is unfortunate that the United States still does not have a legal basis for crypto trading in place, while 83% of the other G20 members already did so.

Today, 83% of G20 members and major financial hubs have made progress toward regulatory clarity for crypto. But the US is an outlier.

A picture paints a thousand words. https://t.co/DpxoKFr4yV pic.twitter.com/KvQ4q0zlsn

— Coinbase 🛡️📞 (@coinbase) September 7, 2023

In a press release, Coinbase said:

“Ireland has a supportive political environment for FinTech companies, as well as a globally respected regulator. We look forward to working with regulators in Ireland, Germany and beyond, to bring this industry to its full potential with the advent of MiCA.”

Coinbase has already registered in Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, and with the opening of a new European headquarters in Ireland, it seems ready to become a major crypto player in Europe. They hope to be able to serve all 27 EU countries thanks to one of their European licenses.