Stuart Alderoty is the Chief Legal Officer at Ripple, the company behind XRP — a payment settlement system and currency exchange network that processes transactions globally. ^[1][2]

Education

Stuart Alderoty studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Rutgers University. Afterward, he studied for a Doctor of Law (JD) degree at Rutgers Law School - Newark. ^[1]

Career

Stuart Alderoty has over 30 years of legal experience with expertise in regulatory affairs and complex litigation. He served as a Managing Partner at American Express from 2002 to 2010. From 2010 to 2016, he was a General Counsel at HSBC North America Holdings, and from 2016 to 2019, he served as the General Counsel at CIT. ^[1]

Ripple

Stuart joined Ripple as its General Counsel & Chief Legal Officer in January 2019 reporting to Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse. His role is to oversee all legal services and manage the company’s global legal, policy, and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance teams. ^[3][4]

“As we continue to work with financial institutions and regulators across the globe to drive home the importance of fostering innovation while protecting consumers, I could not think of a better addition to Ripple’s leadership bench and our global legal team than Stuart,” said Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO.
“He brings a level of experience and expertise that will be vital in supporting not only Ripple’s growth but growth of the overall industry.”^[3]

Stuart Alderoty also commented on his role at Ripple:

“Blockchain technology is transforming the financial services industry and Ripple has been at the forefront for both its technology and thoughtful approach to policy,” said Alderoty.
“I am thrilled to join Ripple and work alongside this great team Brad has assembled as we find new ways to partner with leading policy makers and continue to create significant solutions for Ripple’s users and end-customers throughout the world.”^[3][4]

Stuart Alderoty & SEC

On August 3, 2022, in a bid to call for the whole crypto industry to work together and fight the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its “overreach”, Stuart Alderoty went to Twitter and shared the SEC’s argument in an LBRY case:

"The SEC argued in LBRY: "Even if a fraction of people" buy a token for "investment purposes, you’re in securities land." Does every jeweler now book a one way ticket to "securities land" because a "fraction" of their customers are “investing” in the oldest commodity - gold?"

"The SEC keeps relegating the CFTC to the kids’ table. That's their regulation by enforcement strategy – attack projects w/ varying resources so they can expand their jurisdiction beyond “securities” by telling judges w/a straight face we’re the government so we must be right"

"Time for the industry to lock arms and defend this overreach together." - he concluded^[5]

Alderoty also shared his thoughts in June 2022 on SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s video about the agency’s regulatory position in the crypto industry.^[7]

“I would rethink the “logic” of saying that crypto markets have to succumb to SEC jurisdiction, [because] that’s like saying drivers of electric cars don’t need seatbelts. It’s actually more like punishing electric car drivers [because] they don’t use SEC-owned and controlled gas stations." ^[6]

Ripple v SEC

In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it filed an action against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executives, who are also significant security holders, alleging that they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered digital asset securities offering. The complaint alleged that Ripple raised funds, beginning in 2013, through the sale of digital assets known as XRP in an unregistered securities offering to investors in the U.S. and worldwide. Ripple also allegedly distributed billions of XRP in exchange for non-cash consideration, such as labor and market-making services. ^[8]

SEC's Dismissal

On October 19, 2023, the SEC dismissed all claims against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chair Chris Larsen. In the filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC notified the court the parties involved in its case against Ripple “have stipulated to the dismissal with prejudice”, suggesting there was no need to schedule an upcoming trial^[9]

In response to the filing, Stuart Aldeorty called the move “a surrender by the SEC” rather than a settlement. ^[10]

"The SEC made a serious mistake going after Brad & Chris personally – and now, they’ve capitulated, dismissing all charges against our executives. This is not a settlement. This is a surrender by the SEC."^[10]