Coinbase has announced that it will stop all trading in XRP from January 19, 2021.
The trading suspension follows a pending SEC case against Ripple Labs and its executives.
The Spark token aidrop will not be affected by this process
Following an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Coinbase has announced that the platform will suspend its Ethereum Code trading records from mid-January.
The lawsuit alleges that Ripple Labs, its former CEO Christian Larsen and current CEO Brad Garlinghouse are guilty of raising $ 1.3 billion through the sale of XRP tokens as unlicensed securities since 2013.
Due to the legal ramifications and the uncertainty of the situation, Coinbase has decided to suspend all trading in XRP from January 19, 2021.
Coinbase goes on the defensive
Coinbase explained the details of this change in a blog post posted earlier today on December 29.
Until January 19, 2021, when all XRP transactions will be halted, Coinbase has moved its order books to the limit only. The exchange has not given a definitive answer on whether or when trading will reopen, but that will likely be determined by how the SEC matter unfolds.
Coinbase margin trading
Coinbase has indicated that deposits and withdrawals will continue to operate normally, so customers simply holding or transferring the asset should not be affected.
Another issue that further complicates the situation is the recent Flare Network Spark token airdrop that was offered to XRP holders. Confirmation of this airdrop was made on December 12, and Coinbase assured customers that this process would not be affected by the trading suspension.
The Bitstamp exchange and many others have already announced similar plans to remove XRP from the list and stop trading and deposits.
XRP price continues to suffer
Since the lawsuit was announced on December 22, the price of XRP has fallen by more than 56%.
This massive drop was likely fueled by a combination of fears about the SEC potentially classifying XRP as a stock and post-snapshot profit taking.
XRP initially climbed over 200% in November to hit a more than two-year high at $ 0.82 before the crash began.
It is currently trading for $ 0.225, but things could get a lot darker depending on the SEC matter and steps taken by other major exchanges to alleviate any legal issues that could be brought against them.