Ripple says it is effectively “operating outside of the US” due to its legal fight with the SEC and is seeking a license in Ireland to drive EU expansion
For today's MexicaNFTimes, we've got some great articles and news: Jana Serfontein / Crypto Daily : Ripple Sets It Sights On Ireland Amid Ongoing SEC Battle Joshua Ramos / Watcher Guru : Ripple Seeking License in Ireland in Effort for European Expansion Dimitar Dzhondzhorov / CryptoPotato : Ripple to Expand its European Presence by Obtaining a License in Ireland Tweets: Stuart Alderoty / @s_alderoty : Enjoyed chatting with @Ryan_Browne_ while I was in London. As we discussed, FTX's bankruptcy is a call to action for responsible economic centers around the world to work to get regulatory frameworks right. https://twitter.com/... John E Deaton / @johnedeaton1 : @Ripple is only one company, albeit a very important one (whether you want to admit it or not). #XRP will be remain a top 10 crypto 10 years from now, as it has been the last 10 (whether you like it or not). And digital assets will move forward with or w/out the United States. https://twitter.com/... Ryan Browne / @ryan_browne_ : Despite the crypto bear market, Ripple is doubling down on Europe, seeking a VASP license in Ireland so it can passport its services across the EU. After a lawsuit from the SEC, “effectively, Ripple is operating outside of the US,” @s_alderoty told me. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Ripple’s European licensing push follows the SEC’s 2020 action over alleged unlicensed securities sales, which put its U.S. regulatory position at the center of its strategy. Earlier in 2022, its CEO had tied a possible IPO exploration to the lawsuit’s resolution, making the dispute relevant to both market access and corporate options.
The Ireland application turns that legal pressure into a defined European operating plan: Ripple is seeking authorization it says can be passported across the EU, rather than treating overseas activity as a temporary substitute for the U.S.
First-order effects
- Ripple shifts immediate regulatory effort toward Ireland, seeking a VASP license that it says would support service passporting across the EU.
- The SEC dispute continues to constrain Ripple’s U.S. posture, while European expansion becomes the company’s stated route for near-term growth.
Second-order effects
- European authorization becomes an operational gate for Ripple’s expansion plans, concentrating its compliance and market-entry work around an Irish license rather than a single-country rollout.
- Ripple’s previously stated IPO path remains linked to the SEC case, so the company’s European expansion does not remove the litigation’s influence over its broader corporate strategy.
Third-order effects
- If firms facing U.S. enforcement increasingly build through European licensing hubs, crypto market access will be organized more heavily by jurisdiction-specific permissions rather than globally uniform operations.
- The pattern points to regulated liquidity fragmentation: companies may maintain separate expansion and compliance strategies across the U.S. and Europe until regulatory treatment converges.
The trend: Crypto firms are increasingly treating regulatory authorization as a geographic allocation decision, building growth plans around jurisdictions that offer clearer routes to market.