Will Coinbase Relist XRP Now That There Is Regulatory Clarity?

The community is hopeful that XRP could be relisted on Coinbase following the success of attorney John E. Deaton who won what is believed to be regulatory clarity regarding secondary market sales of cryptocurrencies earlier this week.

In the legal battle between blockchain-based content sharing and publishing platform LBRY and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Deaton and LBRY scored a major victory for the entire crypto industry. As Bitcoinist reported, the lawyer participated as an amicus of tech journalist Naomi Brockwell in the hearing on remedies in the case LBRY v. SEC.

LBRY’s legal team and Deaton succeeded in getting the SEC to confirm on the record that secondary market sales of cryptocurrencies, for example by exchanges, do not constitute securities transactions.

As a result, voices have now been raised in the community that Coinbase, as the largest American exchange, should relist XRP. The original call came from LBRY, which wrote via Twitter:

Coinbase should relist XRP.  Under the SEC vs LBRY standard, XRP sold by secondary holders is not a security.

Unsurprisingly, the tweet has triggered a flurry of similar calls within the community. For example, one Twitter user wrote, “Coinbase shareholders deserve XRP to be traded again. Let’s go Coinbase make a stand!”, and shared a screenshot of Coinbase where a “Trading Not Yet Available” button can be seen below the XRP price chart – circling “yet” and thus speculating on an upcoming relisting.

Will Coinbase Relist XRP Promptly?

It is important to know that Coinbase was never (officially at least) forced to delist XRP. Coinbase simply chose to delist the token because they felt the risk of a lawsuit against themselves was too high as a result of the SEC lawsuit against Ripple.

Therefore, while Coinbase can theoretically relist XPR at any time, Coinbase will continue to adhere to its risk assessment. Whether the statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the LBRY case will be enough for the largest U.S. exchange to relist XRP is questionable, at least.

As of press time, Coinbase has not yet responded to LBRY’s tweets or other tweets from the community. However, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong retweeted a tweet from Haun Ventures as recently as Tuesday, January 31.

“Crypto founders have spent years asking policymakers for regulatory clarity. That goal got closer this week-just not in the United States.” The retweet suggests that there is still not enough regulatory clarity, in Armstrong’s opinion.

Given the risk, it is likely that the exchange will wait for the outcome of the Ripple case. Ripple legal counsel Stuart Alderoty recently stated that he expects a decision in the first half of the year. As reported, all documents have been briefed and only the judge’s decision is pending.

At press time, the XPR price was at $0.4146, still trading below the crucial resistance at $0.43.