Ripple General Counsel Trolls SEC Case, Compares It to Spy Balloon Shot Down by US Military

Alderoty expresses confidence in Ripple’s defense.

Ripple general counsel Stuart Alderoty has taken a jab at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, likening its case against Ripple to the Chinese spy balloon shot down by the US military over the weekend.

The lawyer did this in a tweet yesterday. As highlighted by one user, Alderoty’s tweet has multiple implications. He could mean that the SEC’s case has been shot down by Ripple’s defense, is full of hot air, or is up in smoke.

“Just released photo of SEC’s misguided case following two years of Ripple’s relentless defense,” wrote the attorney captioning a photo of the deflated balloon descending from the sky.

Just released photo of SEC’s misguided case following two years of Ripple’s relentless defense. pic.twitter.com/7ITh3SEkkW

— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) February 5, 2023

Unsurprisingly, Alderoty’s tweet has attracted a flurry of responses from the XRP community, including from veteran attorney James K. Filan, who has continuously provided updates on the case. Filan, quoting the Ripple general counsel’s tweet, wrote, “nails it.”

It is worth noting that Alderoty is no stranger to bashing the regulator. Last December, the Ripple attorney described the SEC as “the bouncing regulator” for continuously shifting its stance in its case against Ripple.

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Alderoty’s latest comments come as everything has been filed and briefed in the over two-year-long legal battle. The case now awaits a ruling from Judge Analisa Torres.

As part of Ripple’s 2023 predictions, the attorney asserted that he expects a ruling in favor of the blockchain payments company in the first half of 2023.

Ripple and XRP proponents have touted the case, once dubbed in a Forbes article as “The Cryptocurrency Trial of The Century,” as an attack against the crypto industry in the US and not just Ripple. As reported last month, Alderoty believes the outcome will significantly influence the future of crypto in the US. Notably, Attorney John E. Deaton, who represents thousands of XRP holders as a friend of the court in the case, has expressed similar views. According to Deaton, the ruling will likely be the only clarity the industry gets in the US for the next two years.

As the case nears its end, several industry pundits have thrown their weight behind Ripple as they fear the onslaught that the SEC could unleash on the emerging market. However, they believe a Ripple victory will force the regulator to create new and clear rules for the market instead of the current campaign of regulation by enforcement.

The SEC filed a complaint against Ripple and its executives in December 2020, accusing them of raising over $1 billion through its XRP sales, which it claims represents an unregistered security offering.

More concerning for crypto community members and XRP holders is the regulator’s overly broad claim that XRP, the underlying asset of the alleged investment contract, is and will remain security no matter how it is used. It is not helped by the fact that SEC chair Gary Gensler has claimed that most cryptocurrencies, aside from Bitcoin, are securities.

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