XRP Sinks Below LTC Again After New Big Investor Lawsuit

XRP has once again lost its place as the fourth largest cryptocurrency, with lawsuits against Ripple after one of its main investors followed the SEC in filing a lawsuit against the project.

According to a Jan. 6 report from Bloomberg, Tetragon, one of the main investors in a $ 200 million Series C funding round for Ripple in 2019, filed a lawsuit against the company in Delaware Chancery Court.

The investment firm claims it is seeking a court to “enforce its contractual right to require Ripple to redeem” the Series C preferred shares held by Tetragon. Further, the company is asking the court to prevent Ripple from using “cash or other liquid assets” until the case is resolved.

Ripple responded to the allegations, saying the lawsuit had “no merit” and accusing Tetragon of taking advantage of the “lack of regulatory clarity” in the United States to file a complaint.

Company executives have previously criticized US regulators – hinting that the company would move its headquarters overseas to escape US “regulation by enforcement”.

Amid lawsuits from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and now Tetragon, XRP has lost its position as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. According to data from CoinMarketCap, XRP’s $ 10.3 billion market cap lags behind Litecoin’s $ 10.5, with LTC rising 26% in the past seven days while XRP’s market cap has grown. stagnated. Litecoin first ‘flipped’ XRP on Sunday, but it was a short lived move.

In December, the SEC tasked Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen with conducting an “unregistered and ongoing digital asset offering” for their XRP sales. The case is scheduled for a virtual pre-conference in February.

Following the news, crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Bittrex, OKCoin, Bitstamp, OSL, Beaxy, and CrossTower have distanced themselves from XRP. Some have announced that they will suspend trading for XRP, while others will remove the token entirely.

At the time of publication, the price of XRP is $ 0.22, having fallen 70% since late November.

Cointelegraph has reached out to Tetragon for comment, but has not received a response at time of publication.