XRP is a Scam, Claims Bitcoin Bull Ben Askren

As cryptocurrencies have grown, and people started to invest (and earn) bigger amounts of money, of course, that the regulators saw their chance to take something for themselves. By saying ‘something’ – it is usually meant of tax. One of the biggest regulatory arguments in the cryptocurrency space is concerning the legal status of digital assets. The regulators always want to describe every digital asset as a security or a commodity because then, they could tax it.

However, XRP is one of the cryptocurrencies that is still in an odd place: no one is actually sure if the asset is a commodity or security or even neither. This uncertainty has seemingly led to a number of drawbacks for the XRP space. However, Ripple Labs, a company closely affiliated with the asset says it is working on it. CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, said that they “have been talking to the SEC for some period of time,” adding that he feels his educating of regulators is a “really constructive process.”

Voicing Out More FUD Than Ever

However, as regulatory concerns over the world’s third-biggest crypto asset have intensified, some celebrities began to voice out more FUD about the coin.

Ben Askren, former UFC fighter and known Bitcoin bull says it loud and clear:

“I think XRP is a scam.”

However, it should have been said that Askren’s latest cryptocurrency verdict builds on a background of his previous love of other cryptocurrencies. The famous former Olympic wrestler loves Bitcoin but also supports Charlie Lee-founded Litecoin. Last year in January he was actually sponsored by the Litecoin Foundation as the mixed martial arts fighter for UFC 235 event. He also appeared on his Instagram wearing a Litecoin-branded t-shirt.

The celebrity is also known as a great Bitcoin love who said in October 2019:

“Just bought more BTC using @eToro was really easy, now all of you twitter geniuses can tell me Crypto is a scam while my assets go up!”

Askren has also recently retweeted to confirm his support of both Bitcoin and Litecoin:

A great #Bitcoin story in one image.

I’m just doing my part to help precoiners friends out. pic.twitter.com/nU5zAXH4OW

— Rick (@RickV3D) January 30, 2020

As Askren has been known as a great proponent both for BTC and LTC so one Twitter user said:

“The fact @Benaskren is staying quiet on XRP tells me its going to take it a long time if ever to moon.”

The response didn’t take long, and almost immediately, a lot of members of crypto Twitter expressed some negative attitude against XRP, while the tweet has amassed over 2,000 likes as of press time.

Ripple Facing a Class-Action Lawsuit

Askren’s statement about XRP comes amid an already bad situation for this coin as it has dropped more than 40% from $0.364 in 2019 to $0.183 in December, marking a two-year low. The situation has been even worsened by rising concerns over the, already mentioned, shady regulatory status of XRP’s issuing company, Ripple, which is currently facing a class-action lawsuit that accuses it of holding an unregistered sale of securities.

Even though this all is happening, Garlinghouse has recently hinted at an initial public offering for Ripple, which undoubtedly has some implications for the fate of altcoin.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Garlinghouse may have indicated that Ripple would itself could become one of those firms to seek public backing.

He then said:

“In the next 12 months, you’ll see IPOs in the crypto/blockchain space. We’re not going to be the first and we’re not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side… it’s a natural evolution for our company.”

At the time of writing, XRP was going up by 2.70% to $0.24.