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Max Keiser, a proponent of Bitcoin (BTC), tweeted a comment regarding XRP, the sixth largest cryptocurrency by market value, which sparked a response from the XRP community.
Keiser replied to a Twitter user's comment that XRP cannot be considered a security and that Ripple has spent approximately $200 million on its legal defense against the SEC complaint.
Where I live, #ElSalvador, anything *Not* #Bitcoin is a security. This would include XRP. https://t.co/JUVjXSZERr
— Max Keiser, sr. bitcoin advisor pres. Bukele 🌋🧢 (@maxkeiser) May 23, 2023
Max Keiser, who remains a long-standing critic of XRP and alternative cryptocurrencies called "altcoins," commented, "Where I live, El Salvador, anything not Bitcoin is a security. This would include XRP."
This would not be the first time Keiser has referred to XRP as a security; he also claims that the SEC was right in going after Ripple. Also recently, Keiser referred to the meme coin PEPE as an unregistered security.
Tomiwabold OlajideMembers of the XRP community would not let Keiser's comment slide, as one teased him for the "low bitcoin usage" in El Salvador, saying: "Where you live, no one is allowed anything but Bitcoin, and yet still no one is using it."
An XRP community member, Dr. Haus, commented, "Max tweets daily about XRP; it lives rent-free inside his mind. I wonder why? If he didn't feel so threatened by XRP, then he would not be so obsessed and preoccupied with it."
As the resolution of the Ripple-SEC lawsuit nears, Ripple CTO David Schwartz gives a key reason why the outcome matters: "If the SEC's legal position means all tokens but bitcoin are securities, then the stakes are whether US persons can participate legally in everything else in the crypto space."
If the SEC's legal position means all tokens but bitcoin are securities, then the stakes are whether US persons can participate legally in everything else in the crypto space. Coinbase still facilitates sales of tokens that the SEC thinks are securities to US persons.
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) May 23, 2023
The crypto industry has been up in arms about the actions taken by the SEC, and some experts have warned that this may push businesses to operate outside of the United States.
The watchdog demanded earlier this year that Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, discontinue providing its so-called staking service, which provides users with rewards similar to interest on their tokens after settling.
Yuri Molchan
U.Today Editorial Team
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin