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- XRP token fell 31% after online platform Coinbase said it would halt trading by mid-January.
- Last week, the U.S. financial regulator filed a lawsuit against blockchain company Ripple over selling XRP.
- XRP lost about six quarters of its value.
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Cryptocurrency XRP fell as much as 31% on Tuesday after trading platform Coinbase said it would fully suspend the digital token by mid-January following the US financial market regulator’s complaint against developer Ripple Labs.
XRP last fell 28% on the day to around $ 0.2018, after dropping to a session low of $ 0.2011 earlier in the day. XRP has lost about 75% in value since reaching a two-year high in early November, when investors took advantage of a weaker U.S. dollar to pile up in cryptocurrencies.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on December 23 that Ripple had effectively made an unregistered $ 1.3 billion offer with its sale of XRP, which the regulator said was a security and not a cryptocurrency.
“In light of the SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc., we have decided to suspend the XRP trading pairs on our platform,” Coinbase said in a statement late Monday.
“Trading will only move PST per limit on 28 December 2020 at 14:30 and will be suspended on Tuesday 19 January 2021 at 10:00 Pacific Standard Time *,” the company said.
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Coinbase added that the trading suspension will not affect customers’ access to XRP wallets and that it will remain available for deposits and withdrawals after the suspension of trading.
Ripple CEO and co-founder Bradley Garlinghouse, mentioned in the SEC case, said in the company’s blog last week that the regulator had not given the firm ‘clarity’ on whether the XRP sign was a currency or a security should not be classified.
Ripple was not immediately available for comment when Business Insider contacted him.