Top Lawyer Says Coinbase XRP Listing Not Coming Despite Recent Meeting

Attorney Morgan is confident that XRP listing on Coinbase will not “follow” the meeting between Alderoty and Grewal.

Members of the XRP community are still commenting on the recent meeting between Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal and Ripple’s General Counsel Stuart Alderoty. 

Some XRP enthusiasts believe the meeting might prompt Coinbase to relist XRP on its trading platform. Reacting to the development, a famous influencer of the sixth-largest cryptocurrency asked whether XRP listing on Coinbase will “follow” the meeting. 

Attorney Morgan Says No “Coinbase XRP Listing”  

However, Australian-based pro-crypto lawyer Bill Morgan does not think Coinbase will relist XRP due to the meeting between Alderoty and Grewal.  

“No, a Coinbase XRP listing will not follow,” said Morgan. 

The seasoned lawyer, who has closely followed the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit, asked why Ripple would expect Coinbase to relist XRP when it refused to add the coin to its liquidity hub service.

According to attorney Morgan, the discussion held at the meeting is likely about how Ripple could assist Coinbase’s petition to the SEC for a Writ of Mandamus or the company’s defense against the regulator’s recent enforcement action. 

He added that Coinbase would continue to treat XRP differently from other crypto assets the SEC has also alleged to be securities. Per Morgan, Coinbase will continue to halt XRP secondary market sales on its platform. 

“Coinbase’s different treatment of XRP (halting secondary market sales on its exchange), than any other digital asset traded on its exchange that the SEC has alleged in its lawsuits are securities, will continue,” he noted. 

Coinbase Halts Support for XRP Trading 

Recall that Coinbase suspended XRP trading in January 2021, a few weeks after the SEC charged Ripple and two of its executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, with offering unregistered securities.

The San Francisco-based exchange cited the SEC lawsuit as the reason behind the decision.

“In light of the SEC’s recent action against Ripple Labs, Inc., Coinbase plans to suspend trading in XRP on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 10 AM PST,” Coinbase said in a statement.

Since Coinbase halted support for XRP trading, the exchange has continuously ignored calls to relist the coin, despite filing an amicus curiae brief supporting Ripple’s fair notice defense. 

In a recent tweet, CryptoLaw founder John Deaton asserted that Coinbase’s decision to halt XRP trading was due to the company’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2021. Meanwhile, attorney Hogan believed that Coinbase’s decision to halt support for XRP trading might hurt its fair notice defense to an SEC claim.