XRP Lawsuit: SEC Denial of Former Comments on Ether is Not Sitting Well with XRP Community

The latest update in the ongoing social media battle fought by the XRP community, regarding the XRP lawsuit, recently saw the community unite to criticize the SEC for an emailed reply from the commission that has been leaked on Twitter. According to the screenshot of the email, the SEC claims that they never made any public comments about Ether’s status, despite having Hinman’s 2018 speech still available on the commission’s website. Furthermore, they elaborated on their judgment process of determining whether or not a cryptocurrency is a security.

“Please be advised, that the SEC has not made any public statements regarding the status of Ethereum. Additionally, please note that the determination on whether a cryptocurrency is considered a security depends on the characteristics and use of the cryptocurrency. Moreover, cryptocurrency exchanges are not regulated securities exchanges.”, the SEC wrote in a mail replying to the most controversial question in the case, “Is the coin “Ethereum” a security?”

Is the SEC bias towards ETH over XRP?

According to CoinGape’s recent reportage, the stark similarities in the operations of both XRP and ETH have been more than evident to the community along with the commission. However, the SEC continues to only attack the XRP with extensively expensive and long-term lawsuits on the issue of being unregistered security. SEC Chief Grundfest commented on this matter even before the lawsuit was filed, objecting to the SEC’s stance he said, “imposing security law obligations on XRP while leaving ETH untouched raises fundamental fairness questions about the exercise of commission discretion”. 

The SEC itself made its arguments rather suspicious when it started rigorously fighting in favor of the DPP dispute, further trying to keep the evidence redacted or under seal. This evidence included the two documents related to the SEC’s meetings with law firms, along the email trail concerning discussions with a third party who received guidance from the SEC to analyze its digital asset under the framework set forth in Hinman’s June 14, 2018, speech. It is not unlikely that the SEC knowingly let ETH trade freely in the market while hitting Ripple with a lawsuit, levying its sale of XRP as unregistered securities.