SEC v XRP

The case between the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and XRP Ripple continues to rumble on.
 

 
This month it was judged that Ripple’s network XRP token was in some cases issued in a way that constituted a security, rather than a commodity. The penalty judgement against XRP was $125 million. Plus the judge forbid the company from violating securities law in the future.

However, the crypto press was reporting it as a victory for XRP. This is because the judgement of £125m was far below the billions sought by the SEC in this now long running suit v the crypto company.

Yesterday XRP traded close to $0.60 and XRP’s company executive claimed the firm was a clear winner. Meanwhile SEC spokesperson claimed victory in the final lawsuit ruling and said that the fine totalled more than 12 times the amount suggested by Ripple.

Judge Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on 7 August that federal securities laws were broken by Ripple when it sold XRPto institutional investors.

Torres agreed that the sales represented investment contracts, and that Ripple neglected to file them with the SEC as securities. But retail sales of XRP were not found to constitute securities.
 
Stuart Alderoty, Ripple exec, is confident that the SEC are unlikely to challenge the ruling, bringing some much needed clarity to Ripple investors. Although other commentators have declared an appeal imminent underlining the ambiguity, especially in regard to regulatory clarity.

Stepping back it looks like another pyrrhic victory for the Biden-Harris administration. Although there is an XRP army – this court case has worked to put ordinary people off becoming investors in the field of crypto assests.

Merch

As the t-shirts say "Fuck the SEC buy XRP"!

Ripple will move quickly to pay off this fine and is now developing an issuance of a US stablecoin on its network. Ripple have also posted developments around this stablecoin as having an Ethereum version.

This court case has been pursued vindictively by the current admin. This is politics.

A Harris victory in the US elections this year will undoubtedly be anti-crypto. A Trump victory could see an admin welcome to crypto money, or at least not anti-crypto.

Indeed, as the dollar continues it’s inexorable decline/collapse the Harris admin will be looking to roll out the long awaited CBDCs. Are they ready yet? I don’t know but they have been working on them.

However, as Lyn Alden notes, when the elite own these assets for themselves they soon start to change their tune. Right now they still want to prevent the little people from getting in on the act so they can shore up their own positions.

This court settlement is just one small victory in the bigger battle of centralised v decentralised money.
 

 

What is Ripple?

Ripple is a payments company that specialises in cross-border remittance. The company does this by leveraging blockchain technology.

What is XRP?

XRP is the native token of the decentralised blockchain XRPLedger. The token is used to facilitate transactions on the XRPLedger, helping financial institutions transfer value in a borderless manner, therefore facilitaings trustless and instant payments and helping financial firms save on the cost of transacting worldwide.