Ripple has beaten back the US Securities and Exchange Commission, accusing it of creating more uncertainty and failing to fulfill its duty to protect the crypto community. In the SEC’s decision to mark its XRP token as security, the company claims that the regulator’s lawsuit against the company constitutes an attack on the entire US crypto market.
Affected XRP Token Holders
The latest comments from the Ripple team follow reports of Coinbase’s delisting of the XRP token. In a brief statement released on December 29, the company, which promises to provide another “response to these unproven allegations against Ripple” in a few weeks’ time, initially alleges that the public and media are currently only providing information on the SEC’s narrative are.
The Ripple team is then attacking the SEC’s $ 1.3 billion lawsuit against the company, arguing that it affected “innocent XRP retailers.” Since the announcement of the lawsuit, the XRP token has lost more than 50% of its value, and the trend will continue as more exchanges delist the token. The Ripple statement explains:
We have always said that there is a dangerous lack of regulatory clarity for crypto in the US – their lawsuit has already hit countless innocent XRP retailers unrelated to Ripple. It has also unnecessarily clouded the water for exchanges, market makers, and traders.
Ripple customers outside of the US
In the meantime, the Ripple team, whose executives previously threatened to withdraw from the US, are reiterating the claim that the token will mainly be traded outside of that country.
“The majority of our customers are not in the US and most of the XRP volume is traded outside of the US. There are clear rules for using XRP in the UK, Japan, Switzerland and Singapore, for example,” the Ripple Instruction.
Meanwhile, the Ripple team says it is ready to defend itself in court, although the statement suggests the company is also pinning its hopes on future SEC leadership. The tenure of the SEC board of directors, led by Jay Clayton, who made the decision to file the lawsuit against Ripple, recently ended. After Clayton’s departure, attorney Elad Roisman was appointed acting chairman.
New SEC board unlikely to change course
However, others like attorney Jake Chervinsky say the odds are still against Ripple’s win despite the board changes. In a Twitter post, Chervinsky says:
Changes in SEC leadership are extremely unlikely to affect the Ripple case. Given Comm’r Peirce’s noticeable silence, I would guess that the vote for the filing was unanimous. Regardless, the case is being prosecuted by enforcement attorneys who will stay here.
Interestingly, while the SEC has already decided that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities, that hasn’t stopped Bitcoin opponents like Peter Schiff from entertaining the idea. In his recent rant against Bitcoin, Schiff weighs in on the Ripple / XRP debacle by asking what would happen if the SEC similarly called Bitcoin security.
Do you think the recent SEC changes will have any impact on the outcome of this case? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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