Ripple's Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said that the approval of a Bitcoin ETF in the United States was only due to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) losing in court. The SEC is a "out-of-control regulatory agency". The SEC's regulatory enforcement of cryptocurrency has forced retail investors to adopt "less efficient ways to invest in Bitcoin". Its behavior has alienated a generation of product innovators in the field. The SEC's unreasonable practices towards these applications demonstrate a regulatory bias against new products and services.