Ripple Lawsuit: Why 17th Feb. Is Crucial In Ripple Vs SEC Case?

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Ripple Lawsuit: Why 17th Feb. Is Crucial In Ripple Vs SEC Case?

Mystery behind the sealed memos? SEC vs Ripple lawsuit is picking up heat and next few moves may decide the fate of the XRP token. One such move was Judge Analisa’s ruling last week to unseal and release two memos termed as a piece of key evidence in the case. The deadline to unseal the memos publicly is February 17th, 2022.

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What’s Behind the Sealed Memos? 

Here is what both parties think about the ruling to unseal memos:

  • As reported by reuters, SEC believes the documents show that Ripple and Christian Larsen were well aware of the risk if XRP token would be deemed a security under federal law. Ripple and the government have presented completely different accounts of what Ripple’s outside counsel has said in those two memos.
  • On the other hand, Ripple and Larsen say that regulators are mischaracterizing the memos. They said the documents show that Ripple’s lawyers ultimately concluded its tokens were not securities.

However, the mystery shall be solved on or before Feb. 17th as Judge Torres recently announced to unseal and release two memos publicly.

Reportedly, Ripple and Larsen were resistant to this ruling. They even argued in letter motions to Torres that the memos should remain under seal. The public release of these memos is also considered as a critical test of the SEC’s ability to regulate cryptocurrency offerings.

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Crypto vs XRP; Are Rules different for Ripple? 

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse had already alleged that Ethereum was given a regulatory green light that enabled it to surpass the XRP token. The SEC has been pursuing Ripple over claims that XRP is an investment contract and thus a security under the Howey Test.

John E Deaton, the attorney for the XRP Holders in the case, took to Twitter to share his view over SEC’s claims against XRP. In his opinion, while other private entities are using XRP token for enabling crypto transactions, why only Ripple is being targeted?

He believes SECs investigation is biased and that rules are not same for Ripple and crypto. Do you agree with John’s views?

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SEC Chair Refuses Questions Over XRP Token’s Security Status

Recently, in an interview SEC chairman Gary Gensler refused comment on the most important aspect of Ripple lawsuit,

Why XRP is a security while ETH is not?

As reported by CoinGape quote, 

In June 2018, William Hinman, former director of SEC, publicly said that the commission would not be treating Ether or Bitcoin as securities. As per reports, Ethereum Foundation bagged funds of over $60 million by selling ETH coins.

Crypto experts believe Feb 17th revelations may finally uncover hidden facts in Ripple lawsuit.

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Sunil Sharma

Sunil is a serial entrepreneur and has been working in blockchain and cryptocurrency space for 2 years now. Previously he co-founded Govt. of India supported startup InThinks and is currently Chief Editor at Coingape and CEO at SquadX, a fintech startup. He has published more than 100 articles on cryptocurrency and blockchain and has assisted a number of ICO's in their success. He has co-designed blockchain development industrial training and has hosted many interviews in past. Follow him on X at @sharmasunil8114 and reach out to him at sunil (at) coingape.com

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