XRP’s Market Cap Declines Below Litecoin Following Another Lawsuit by Investor

XRP was toppled from the fourth position in the list of top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization as another lawsuit was filed by a prominent investor, following the case filed by SEC against the venture.

As per a report published by Bloomberg, well-known investor Tetragon, who led Ripple’s $200 million Series C funding round two years back, has slapped a lawsuit against the firm in the Delaware Chancery Court.

The investment firm asserts that it is requesting the court to “enforce its contractual right to require Ripple to redeem” Series C preferred stock owned by it. Furthermore, the institution is also seeking the court to prohibit Ripple from utilizing “any cash or other liquid assets” until the issued gets resolved.

Ripple has replied to the charges, stating that the legal case does not have any merit. The XRP provider has also blamed Tetragon of trying to capitalize on the lack of regulatory clarity in the country.

Ripple’s executives had earlier been cynical of the US regulators, stating that the company would shift its head-office to a crypto and blockchain friendly location.

Against the backdrop of lawsuits from both Tetragon and the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), XRP lost its place as the fourth largest crypto in terms of market capitalization. As per data provided by Coingecko.com, XRP’s market cap has dwindled to $10.42 billion, falling behind $10.78 billion of Litecoin.

Notably, Litecoin has appreciated by 26% in the last seven days, while XRP’s market cap has remained almost unchanged. Litecoin initially “flipped” XRP last Sunday, but that did not last longer.

Last month, the SEC slapped a lawsuit on Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, alleging them of carrying out an “unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.” By next month, the case is expected go on trial virtually.

Following the lawsuit by SEC, cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bittrex, Coinbase, Bitstamp, OKCoin, Beaxy, OSL and CrossTower have suspended trading of XRP. At the time of writing this article, XRP was trading at $0.2278, reflecting a loss of 1.9% in the past 24 hours.