Crypto token XRP falls as much as 31% after Coinbase says it will halt trading

• The cryptocurrency XRP fell as much as 31% on Tuesday after the trading platform Coinbase said it would suspend trading of it by mid-January.
• Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against the blockchain company Ripple over how it sells XRP.
• XRP has lost about three-quarters of its value in six weeks.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The cryptocurrency XRP fell as much as 31% on Tuesday after the trading platform Coinbase said it would fully suspend the digital token from its marketplace by mid-January. That followed a complaint from the US financial-markets regulator against XRP’s developer, Ripple Labs.

XRP was down 28% on the day, to about $0.2018, having fallen to a session low of $0.2011 earlier in the day. XRP has lost about 75% in value since hitting a two-year high in early November, when investors took advantage of a weaker US dollar to pile into cryptocurrencies.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday that Ripple had effectively been running a $1.3 billion unregistered offering with its sales of XRP, which the regulator deemed a security and not a cryptocurrency.

“In light of the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc, we have made the decision to suspend the XRP trading pairs on our platform,” Coinbase said in a statement late on Monday.

“Trading will move into limit only starting December 28, 2020 at 2:30 PM PST, and will be fully suspended on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time,” the company said.

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Coinbase added that the trading suspension would not affect customers’ access to XRP wallets and that these would remain available for deposits and withdrawals.

Ripple CEO and cofounder Bradley Garlinghouse, who is named in the SEC’s suit, said last week on the company’s blog that the regulator had not given the firm clarity on whether its XRP token should be classified as a currency or a security.

Ripple was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Business Insider.