As per Jake Chervinsky, the Head of Policy at the US Blockchain Association, Ripple is giving SEC more trouble than anyone in the crypto world, including Elon Musk.
In a recent tweet, the US Blockchain Association Head of Policy, Jake Chervinsky lauded the efforts of Ripple (XRP) and its legal team stating that no matter what crypto community may think of the payment giant’s ongoing legal battle against the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), there are a couple of facts that no one can deny.
First that Ripple is giving SEC a far tougher time than anyone in the crypto world, including the tech billionaire Elon Musk.
And second that theirs is the most significant dispute related to the securities law, more so because they’re determined to continue fighting till the battle reaches its conclusive end, unlike others in the past who caved into pressure and settled.
Ripple isn’t the only crypto company sued by SEC
To put things into perspective, SEC has gone after many crypto companies in the past. They filed lawsuits against a few and threatened others with possible litigations. On most occasions, the defendants were too scared of the state regulator to stand up to it, and conceded. However, in Ripple’s case, the company has been going hard at the SEC, right from the day one.
Some of the noteworthy crypto influencers and organisations that have been sued by SEC in the past include the late John McAfee, Stefan Qin (Founder, Virgin Capital crypto fund), Kik and Block.One (the company behind EOS blockchain).
Furthermore, in Sep 2018, the regulatory body sued Elon Musk too for having tweeted about making Tesla private at $420, calling the statement misleading and false. Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US also faced the brunt of SEC in Aug 2021, when it was threatened with a lawsuit for trying to launch a crypto lending service using the USDC stablecoin. The company had to shelve its plans as a result.
The latest on Ripple vs SEC
Back when SEC took Ripple to court in Dec 2020, everyone thought the crypto company was in the hot waters (many still think that!). However, Ripple has since turned tables on the government agency and now SEC seems to be in the hot waters.
In a recent development, Sarah Netburn, the US Magistrate Judge has denied the US agency the privilege argument per which it wanted to guard certain documents. As a result, they now have to produce before court an email containing the draft of a 2018 speech by the agency’s former Director William Hinman, wherein he suggests that Ethereum cannot be considered a security. This is being perceived as a major victory for Ripple.
