A new twist to the Ripple vs. SEC case has come to the fore.
SEC’s New Filing Fatal To Its Claims
In response to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s lawsuit against blockchain firm Ripple Labs, co-defendants Brad Garlinghouse and Chairman Chris Larsen have requested that the regulatory agency carry out investigations on crypto exchanges that list or once listed the
XRP token.
According to a motion the defendants submitted to the New York Southern District Court, the SEC should make inquiries from offshore crypto exchanges like Bithumb, Huobi Global, OKEx, Upbit Singapore, and ten others on the trading activities of
XRP.
A second filing notes that the motion is not unusual per provision from the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters. In that respect, Garlinghouse and his co-defendant have requested that regulatory agencies hosting the under-listed Bitcoin exchanges should assist in the ongoing lawsuit.
Ripple Labs and the two executives have continued to maintain their innocence, stating that
XRP is no more security any more than Bitcoin and Ethereum. [coin_stats_table symbol="BTC"][coin_stats_table symbol="ETH"]
In a Dec. 2020 public subpoena, the government agency alleged that the blockchain firm had illegally sold unregulated securities to the US investing public.
The defendants have said no future profit-sharing was undertaken in the sales of the
XRP token.
The SEC has since made adjustments to its earlier lawsuit in a new complaint claiming that Ripple and the two executives standing trial sold over 2 billion
XRP units within 2013 and 2017 to investors worldwide. It has
Ripple chiefs have since said that it has never contravened the SEC’s 1933 Securities Act prohibiting local sales of securities without registration. According to legal representatives of the Ripple boss and co-founder, the trading of
XRP in the 15 offshore exchanges is clearly outside the jurisdiction of the SEC. The SEC, pointing to the sales of
XRP in these exchanges and not within the US, nullifies its claims.
XRP Only A Security In The US
The tussle between the Silicon Valley blockchain company and the SEC has been ongoing for months, with the
XRP token feeling the brunt.
Following the Dec. 2020 filing release, Ripple Labs saw most of its partnerships in the US go under, and many crypto exchanges in the American nation subsequently delisted
XRP on their platforms.
Garlinghouse has bemoaned the regularity vacuum in the US crypto space. According to him,
XRP is considered a commodity in all other regions it is traded except in the US.
Accordingly, the company has shifted its attention to helping national banks launch their central bank digital currency (CBDC) programs. In a March announcement, Ripple Labs said its
XRP Ledger as a neural bridge for the private CBDC offering.
XRP has since recovered and is trading above the dollar mark.
[deco-beg-single-coin-widget coin="
XRP"]
bitcoinexchangeguide.com
03 June 2021 11:37, UTC
