One of the biggest stories in the Ripple community: Coinbase to relist XRP, but there’s a catch

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase delisted XRP in January 2021 after the SEC filed its case against the Ripple network. Despite vocal appeals by the Ripple community to have the token relisted, Coinbase remained unmoved.

As recently reported, LBRY Inc also called for XRP relisting on Coinbase. The reaffirmation of its support for XRP came after the SEC settled its lawsuit against LBRY Inc, with the presiding District Judge concluding that LBC tokens sold in the secondary market are not securities. 

XRP price has reacted positively to the development, rising over 2% to reclaim the $0.3649 support level. The uptrend comes despite the current mood in the market after several collapses in the banking sector and the debacle that befell USDC stablecoin. 

Coinbase CLO optimistic about Ripple win

However, in a March 16 interview with Thinking Crypto host Tony Edward, Coinbase’s chief legal officer (CLO) Paul Grewal said that if Ripple wins its lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the largest American crypto exchange will relist XRP token.

Grewal spoke in detail about the matter, expressing his optimism for a Ripple win. However, he also noted that a relisting does not depend solely on the question of a court victory as there might be other factors that could come into play, including the exact details of the court judgment. 

The Coinbase CLO revealed that the exchange makes regular evaluations of assets for listing, delisting, and pausing, noting that they were cognizant of the frustration of the XRP community.

I know that for many XRP holders, it has been frustrating that they have not been able to trade their assets on Coinbase while this SEC case has been pending.

Before explaining what the process of relisting XRP would look like, Grewal said that he was eager for the ruling, lauding the work of Ripple’s lawyers in the highest terms. He said, “I carefully paid attention to the fact that the defendants, in this case, have done a masterful job of pushing the SEC and raising serious questions about the SEC’s entire theory.”

Notably, Coinbase had also filed an amicus brief to support several defenses presented by the Ripple lawyers. Ripple CLO Stuart Alderoty and his team at the fintech company have done an “incredible job,” which explains Grewal’s confidence about the court’s ruling favoring Ripple.

We’ll see that the SEC theories have serious issues. I think the briefing, in this case, has been excellent, and we are all going to find out soon what the trial judges think of the arguments.

Nevertheless, Grewal also noted that the Southern District Court of New York’s decision would only be the first step in a longer process. In his opinion, the chances of an appeal remain high for both parties regardless of who wins in court.

Coinbase exchange to relist XRP

Grewal did not shy away from giving a possible timeline of XRP relisting on the exchange. While he did not give an exact date, the Coinbase CLO said it depends on “the grounds of the ruling, the judge’s legal reasoning, and Coinbase’s assessment of whether or not the appeals court will uphold the decision.”

Acknowledging that his response was not entirely satisfactory, Grewal said that as a publicly listed company, Coinbase needs to tread with caution on this matter, respecting every token that is a subject of federal court litigation.

Nevertheless, Grewal assured Coinbase would immediately kickstart the review process once the court rules.

But I am very eager as anyone else to see how the court rules and what I can say, as soon as we have the ruling, we will put in our process to see if we need to revisit our listing decision.

XRP price on a rise

XRP price has already reacted to this news, soaring 2.13% in the last 24 hours to auction for $0.3711 against the US Dollar at press time. The token is on course to confront the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.3798, which could pave the way for more gains if breached.

XRP/USDT 1-day chart

Along with the hope of a relisting, the XRP community is also elated about the network’s recent partnership and investment with a Singaporean-based venture capital fund to accelerate Web3 adoption.

However, if the FUD of the crypto market caused by banking sector woes takes precedence, XRP price could decline, potentially below the immediate support at $0.3649.