Regulation

SEC Denies Holding Documents Relating To XRP, Bitcoin, and Ether

SEC Denies Holding Documents Relating To XRP, Bitcoin, and Ether

As the Ripple Labs lawsuit continues to heat up, a ruling by the judge has authorized the discovery of any SEC documents relating to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The regulator has denied holding any documents relating to the three cryptocurrencies in question. 

The judge on the case, Judge Netburn, made a ruling in April that required the SEC to disclose discussions on whether Bitcoin, Ether and XRP are securities:

“I am going to authorize discovery both as to exclusively Bitcoin or Ether communications as well as XRP communications between the SEC and third parties. I am not including SEC-to-SEC internal communications in that ruling.”

The significance of this ruling in the $1.3 billion lawsuit is that if the SEC has compared Bitcoin or Ethereum to XRP in any way this could swing the courts favour to Ripple and their contention that XRP is not a security. In the same way that Bitcoin and Ethereum are considered digital assets, and not securities, Ripple maintains that their XRP token is also not a security.

Attorney Jeremy Hogan commented on the verdict that required the SEC to reveal any external documents on the case, but didn’t require them to present any internal documents. 

“The Judge is going to tell the SEC to pull out an internal memorandum regarding the security-designation status of BTC and ETH and XRP and disclose them. She will force them to disclose more than they want (which is apparently "nothing"), but less than Ripple is asking for.”

Last month the price of XRP shot up by 12% following a ruling from judge Netburn that denied the SEC access to Ripple finances, stating the records were “not relevant or proportional to the needs of the case”. 

A number of pundits from the crypto and legal space have spoken out in their support of Ripple Labs in the ongoing court case. Thomas Hodge, the founder of Crypto & Policy created a change.org petition to ask SEC chairman Gary Gensler to “end the war on XRP” which currently has well over 16,000 signatures. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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