Early on, Stuart Alderoty, General Counsel at Ripple stated, “Not only is the future of the U.S. crypto industry at stake, but the arrogance of unrestrained regulators making policy through enforcement is on trial as well.”
Roslyn Layton, Senior Contributor at Forbes published, SEC stumbles in Ripple case, lost in a maze of its own making. Stuart Alderoty recommends that the publication is a must read.
The Forbes publication analyzes everything from the timing of the lawsuit that was doubly peculiar, reinstating on how long the SEC waited before they can file the case. Also, a mention was made to how the filing was made when Jay Clayton, SEC Chairman was leaving the chair.
Forbes calls the filing a disastrous mistake. And, several filings from the Ripple side are already making it clear that the SEC’s decision to sue Ripple was misguided. This just means that Gary Gensler, the presumed incoming chairman has lot of work to do.
The last act of Jay Clayton while he is moving out of SEC is seen as an inherently weak decision. Those who are new to the story should read the rest of the facts from the publication: “It began on January 1, when a group of XRP holders led by Rhode Island attorney John E. Deaton struck back at the agency…”
The SEC V. Ripple issue has rightly been called the cryptocurrency trial of the century. The allegation by itself is very ambiguous because, “The SEC’s complaint alleged that Ripple and its senior executives pumped XRP as if it were shares whose value was dependent on Ripple’s success as a company, which Ripple’s response meticulously refutes.”
Also, the two high ranking executives of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, were sued for not registering XRP as a security in 2013, when they held their currency sales. SEC reinstated that it was not an ICO, but that it was a currency sales.
Ripple are seeking to dismiss the lawsuit with arguments citing: “fair notice and due process.” The request for the internal SEC documents and communications, which can prove the high-profile development at Ripple as related to XRP through (FOIA) left SEC panic. They request that the “Fair Notice” defense be struck off!
Now, everything is to come to the table – the details of what internal work happened in 2018 to prove that Ether (ETH) is not a security; the list of cryptocurrency exchanges which ask for a clear guidance from SEC on XRP’s legal status before listing the token; the details of the internal discussions and responses and more.
