The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs have had a very long, very interesting relationship. Recently, however, Ripple Labs has been granted access to the documents of the SEC that express the interpretations and views of the SEC when it comes to crypto assets.
Playing The Technical Game
Law360 showed that one Sarah Netburn, a US Magistrate Judge, had granted Ripple Labs the motion “in large part.” The Judge had concluded that the memos and minutes of the SEC regarding cryptocurrencies are likely discoverable but asserted that staff-to-staff email communications are not to be produced. Another detail Netburn allowed is for either RIpple or the SEC to raise disputes with the ruling if they wished.
It was back in December of last year when the SEC filed its lawsuit against Ripple. In this lawsuit, the regulator accused Ripple Labs, including Christian Larson, the Chairman, and Brand Garlinghouse, the CEO, of raising a total of $1.38 billion by way of an unlicensed security offering, which they did all the way back in 2013.
A Crack Legal Team Is Severely Versatile
Not to give the jig up just yet, Ripple promptly challenged the SEC’s lawsuit, claiming that an asset expressly used for online settlements is more akin to Ether or Bitcoin. Both of these assets have been declared commodities by the SEC. Another important factor Ripple hammers home about is the 8-year time gap the agency took in terms of filing a complaint against RIpple as a whole.
Matthew Solomon stands as the Counsel of Garlinghouse, with Law360 reporting that Matthew Solomon is convinced that the SEC’s lawsuit could be “game over” should they manage to find any evidence that the regulator had compared XRP to ETH or BTC. Through this technicality, XRP would be classified as a commodity instead of security, and thus be outside of the jurisdiction of the SEC.
The Legal System Is Always Complex
Another point lawyers are hammering home on, is the fact that the SEC has taken a whole of 8 years to file the complaint. As such, the law firm is doing its best to undermine the claims of the regulator should they find any documentation that is counterintuitive to the official classification of XRP by the SEC.
Solomon declared that this sort of discovery is needed in order to defend the client in question
Time will tell how successful this antic will be. Many in the crypto space already see RXRP as a security and are simply waiting for them to be caught out for it
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