eToro Suspends XRP Trading for U.S. Users Over SEC’s Lawsuit Against Ripple

Social trading platform eToro has become the latest firm to suspend XRP trading following the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs over the sale of the cryptocurrency.

In an update, eToro’s team cited the lawsuit as the reason for the suspension, but stressed that the move will, for now, only affect its U.S. customers. The firm is prohibiting purchases of XRP on the eToro platforms, and any conversion of XRP held in an eToro wallet beginning on January 3. Existing positions will have to be closed until January 24.

Users will still be able to hold their XRP tokens on the eToro wallet and move them to any other wallet on the blockchain through it. While the move only applies to U.S. customers, eToro warned others may feel the sting:

We wish to highlight the potential for liquidity issues i.e. the execution of $XRP orders, including the closure of existing positions, which may be interrupted or even stopped. We may also see significant widening of spreads due to extreme market conditions.
The firm further encouraged users to “hold diverse investment portfolios” and reminded them that if they wish to diversify their holdings the platform offers stocks, ETFs, commodities, indices, and more. eToro further added it will continue to monitor legal developments related to XRP and update its users accordingly.

Per the firm, XRP trading may be suspended globally if it determines that “either market, regulatory, or other conditions warrant such action.” As CryptoGlobe reported other major trading platforms, including Coinbase and Crypto.com, already announced XRP trading suspensions after the SEC’s lawsuit was announced.

Asset managers, payment providers, market makers, and wallets also suspended trading or stopped support XRP altogether after the lawsuit was announced.

On December 22, one day before former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton resigned, the SEC announced that it had “filed an action against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executives, who are also significant security holders, alleging that they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.”