Did Ripple Fall for Its Own Plot Trying to Target Competitors?

Ripple is offering questions to the minds of crypto investors regarding the strategies in the market

There is a saying that you are smart as long as you are not caught. One hopes this is really not the case with a popular cryptocurrency, Ripple (XRP) if one has to take the recent report about it into circulation. Or, is it the case? The question which lacks a definite answer as yet is certainly worth a billion dollars. One thing is certain for crypto investors. That the Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, is found to be at pains to deny the news, presented by Crypto Leaks, an online publication highlighting instances of fraud and corruption in the crypto market.

Without mentioning any source, the publication has come out with a report that Ava Labs has an undisclosed pact with Rippler formed a secret pact with the law firm to maneuver the American legal system "gangster style" with the avowed goal of attacking and harming crypto organizations. The news has generated a 'Ripple effect' in the crypto market and it is not difficult for crypto investors to understand why.

The report adds that Garlinghouse has funded a law firm to target competitor firms. It specifically mentions that Roche, the founder of Roche Freedman, convinced Garlinghouse that it would be good to target the competitors with lawsuits. Ripple having directly experienced the trouble that such lawsuits ensue, the Ripple CEO might have found the idea useful and became ready to become the "angel investor", if the report is to be believed. Garlinghouse denied any such move and tweeted the following: Can't comment on the validity of the slew of allegations in here, but I can unequivocally say that I have never met or spoken to (much less invested in) Kyle Roche. But the buzz is too much and too intense to give him peace.

The problem for Garlinghouse is that the cryptocurrency Ripple does carry the baggage of the controversy which involved its Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Chris Larsen. Larsen was found to be collaborating with the Greenpeace campaign to change the Bitcoin code and was subject to a torrent of criticism in the crypto market.

The news makes the crypto investor community much uncomfortable as it may unleash litigation across the crypto industry. However, Garlinghouse is not alone in his fight. His supporters are pointing to several ambiguous statements in the Crypto Leak report in which facts and assumptions are stated to be diluted to put the Ripple CEO in a highly embarrassing position.

One has to wait for the final outcome of this leak versus denial event vis-à-vis Ripple cryptocurrency. Till then, the question of whether the firm did it or not will remain alive.