Shocking But True: Only XRP and BTC Are Certified as Nonsecurities in US

Many stakeholders in the digital currency ecosystem have always bemoaned the lack of regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies in the United States, but the tides appear to be changing. According to an update from Ripple developers featuring a video comment from the company's CTO, David Schwartz, XRP is now the only digital asset with regulatory clarity in the United States, after Bitcoin (BTC).

This is a significant milestone in an industry that has faced massive regulatory pressure from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the past few years. The nonsecurities status of XRP was defined by Judge Analisa Torres in the case between the firm and the market regulator.

According to Judge Torres, XRP is, in and of itself, not a security when sold to retail investors on secondary marketplaces. Despite the fact that the SEC does not agree with this verdict and is actively pursuing an interlocutory appeal on the ruling, the current status is that XRP is not an investment contract.

The clarity on the status of XRP has helped elevate trust and confidence in the digital currency. Besides the relisting of the asset on popular marketplaces like Binance.US, Coinbase and Kraken, more industry stakeholders are now exploring avenues to employ Ripple's remittance technology, which utilizes the XRP token.

Riding the waves with Bitcoin

As the first prominent digital currency, Bitcoin has always enjoyed being tagged as a nonsecurity by executives of the SEC. The coin's decentralized nature, and the absence of a central body responsible for its updates the way the Ethereum Foundation is for the Ethereum blockchain, has presented it as a free virtual currency devoid of any speculation.

With the markets regulator recently indicting the likes of Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL) and Filecoin (FIL), among others, in its lawsuit against Binance and Coinbase, the status of XRP is now more appreciated than ever.