The US SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs and two of its executives are currently playing out in court, and after the first two virtual hearings, it seems SEC might not have as strong of a case as many believed in the beginning. When SEC first filed its lawsuit against Ripple back in December last year, it had a direct impact on XRP as many US-based crypto platforms started delisting the third-largest cryptocurrency at that time.
Many pundits called it a virtual end for XRP in the US and the end of the road for Ripple, however, after the first two court hearings several revelations made by Ripple’s legal counsel have turned the case on its head in their favor. During the first hearing, Ripple counsel revealed that SEC ignored queries by numerous exchanges on the status of XRP and allowed them to trade XRP without any warnings. The second hearing revealed even more interesting facts, where the judge observed that
“My understanding of XRP is that not only does it have a currency value but it also has a utility and that utility distinguishes it from Bitcoin and Ether.”
“My understanding of XRP is that not only does it have a currency value but it also has a utility and that utility distinguishes it from Bitcoin and Ether.” I kid you not, this was a quote from Judge Netburn in the hearing in the SEC v Ripple case today
— Jesse Hynes (@jesse_hynes) March 19, 2021
SEC’s Comments During the Trial Supposedly Makes XRP Viable For Relisting
The second breakthrough came from an SEC’s claim that only Ripple and its associated are liable under section 4 of registration requirements, thus offering in a way that any other exchange like Coinbase and BINANCE won’t violate securities law if they relist XRP.
These comments came when Judge Sarah Netburn questioned whether anyone selling XRP including individuals would be violating Security laws, and in response SEC’s legal counsel said that in Section 4 of the Securities Act, only Ripple, and its affiliates could be accused of illegal sales.
THIS IS HUGE FOR #XRP??????????????????????????????#xrpcommuntity
Thank you ?@attorneyjeremy? ???@JohnEDeaton1? ?? pic.twitter.com/AXTz9xmpDE
— LUDNLXRP (@ludnlxrp) March 20, 2021
The recent developments also led to the XRP community’s campaign on Twitter calling for XRP relisting on US-based platforms.
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‘Crypto Exchange Did Not Violate SEC Norms by Selling XRP’, SEC https://t.co/C0A7TjRxuH
— JamesRuleXRP??HODL??DYOR??Don't FOMO?????? (@RuleXRP) March 21, 2021
The price of XRP has also soared nearly 18% in the wake of recent developments in the case as well as growing demand from XRP holders to relist XRP token.
The series of developments in the Sec vs Ripple case give Ripple the upper hand in the short term given SEC also amended the lawsuit right before the first hearing in February to remove market manipulation charges. The recent developments also led to the XRP community’s campaign on Twitter calling for XRP realizing on exchanges.
