The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, recently sat down for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session with the company’s Senior VP of Marketing, Monica Long. The AMA discussion took place yesterday, Tuesday the 18th of December at 2:30 pm (PT).

If Ripple Shuts Down, XRP Will Continue to Trade

In the AMA session (currently available online), Ms. Long asks Brad Garlinghouse whether XRP is a security or not. Ms. Long also acknowledges that this has been a question that the Ripple CEO has been asked on several occasions.

In his response to the question, Brad Garlinghouse states the following:

I think it is very clear XRP is not a security. There is a whole bunch of base layer reasons for that. One of the most important I think is…if Ripple the company shuts down…XRP trades on over a hundred exchanges around the world and XRP will continue to trade. Ripple is one important participant in the XRP ecosystem…but there are a whole bunch of participants…

2018 Saw Little Participation of Institutional Investors

In the AMA session, Brad Garlinghouse also stated that his 2018 prediction of Institutional Investors getting into crypto investing will have to be pushed to 2019.

One prediction I made that I think I got wrong…I really thought 2018 was going to be a year where you saw an increasing participation in the digital asset markets from institutional investors. I think we haven’t really seen that. To the extent we have…it has been in very very small amounts. And I think it is largely because the industry hasn’t quite matured to the point where they can participate. So I’m going to push that prediction off to 2019 as we look forward to next year.

SEC Has a Hard Job Deciding on a Bitcoin ETF

Brad Garinghouse also provided his insights on the pending Bitcoin ETF decision at the SEC. Due to the sensitivity of an ETF, the CEO of Ripple acknowledged that the SEC in the United States has a hard job with regards to the matter. The regulatory body has so far hinted that their major concerns are risks associated with the manipulation of a Bitcoin backed ETF.

Mr. Garlinghouse also added that 2018 has not helped with the task given to the SEC in that we saw more concentration of BTC mining power. Such centralized power increases the risks of manipulation.

More on the AMA with Brad Garlinghouse and Monica Long can be found here.

What are your thoughts on Brad Garlinghouse’s recent AMA session with Monica Long? Do you think XRP can thrive without the Ripple company? Please let us know in the comment section below.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to give financial advice. Any additional opinion herein is purely the author’s and does not represent the opinion of Ethereum World News or any of its other writers. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the numerous cryptocurrencies available. Thank you.