As Ripple’s case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to go forward, we’re seeing some signs that the cryptocurrency company may be winning – and the SEC may be in trouble.
Today, we get more news from the case, which is now being administrated by Judge Annalisa Torres after remaining in the jurisdiction of Sarah Netburn (SDNY) per month.
“Ripple, a Fintech company, makes substantial headway in its legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,” writes Jet Encila at NewsBTC. “The XRP (the world’s seventh-largest cryptocurrency) issue will be resolved soon, according to CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who is optimistic about the case’s conclusion date. XRP continued a week-long surge in the market today that began after a judge in an ongoing legal tussle between Ripple and the SEC made beneficial rulings for Ripple.”
What’s specifically at issue now is the SEC’s “desperate” fight (as characterized by some observers) to hold onto private records that it says were central to the deliberation process.
The SEC’s stance is fairly clear – head Gary Gensler has said publicly that he thinks a lot of stablecoins and tokens like XRP could be unregistered securities, leading to violations of banking and finance laws.
What’s unclear is how XRP differs from Bitcoin and Ethreum. The SEC’s record is not helped by news that former head Jay Clayton is working for a firm that deals in BTC and ETH.
After Netburn ruled that the SEC must turn over internal documents, the agency dragged its feet. Today we see that it’s asking for another three week extension, which has led to the agency being roundly criticized by impartial parties.
Meanwhile, Ripple’s lawyer intends to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
None of this looks good for the SEC.
If nations want to regulate cryptocurrency, they had better do it in an orderly and consistent way. Otherwise, this type of chaos is likely to proliferate. Stay tuned.