Blockchain payments giant Ripple gets yet another lawsuit thrown at it, this time over a loss of just $48. Even though this sounds like a joke, the lawsuit is absolutely real and it is expected to drag the payments company back to court.
The entire Ripple community wondering what could be the motivation behind the class-action lawsuit filed against Ripple Labs and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse over a $48.56 loss by Tyler Toomey, a resident of Jacksonville, Florida.
Toomey supposedly purchased 135 XRP tokens priced at $0.724 each to account for a total purchase of $97.80 back in November 2020. Soon after, news of Ripple’s lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission emerged and the price of XRP collapsed. As such, Toomey suffered a loss of almost 50% and had to sell his investment for $49.24.
It is ironic that to file the lawsuit Toomey spent $402, which is eight times the sum he claims he lost. The weirdness of the case doesn’t stop here; he has also demanded a sum of $5,000,001,000 as reimbursement and the Magistrate presiding over the case also shares his rare surname, Magistrate Judge Joel B. Toomey.
The filing also notes that the class-action lawsuit is on behalf of the original plaintiff Toomey, “and all others similarly situated against Defendants Ripple Labs,” and hence it’s possible that Toomey just wants other investors to follow his footsteps.
Along with this, Toomey is also seeking “injunctive relief” because of the amount of XRP being held by defendants which the filing claims, “they can continue to monetize while creating substantial risk to investors.”
A joke?
The Ripple community is both confused and ridiculed. Some think this is some sort of joke while some have taken offense. Someone even offered Toomey $200 in XRP to drop the lawsuit. On the other hand, New Jersey attorney Jess Hynes suggests the law is at fault for situations like this.
“This stuff is going to keep happening and you can blame Congress and the SEC for it. @RepMaxineWaters refused to do her job last session. Let’s hope she does it this go around,” he tweeted.
On the serious side of things, Ripple’s $1.3 billion battle with SEC over the sale of XRP, which the SEC considers security, making the act illegal. The price of XRP has also taken a massive hit and the altcoin has also been delisted from multiple cryptocurrency exchanges. Right now, the future of Ripple in the United States depends on the outcome of this lawsuit.
