Crypto news: Ripple has again been mentioned by Twitter users in their debate over the NBA Top Shot NFT ruling, whose judge mentioned security. In fact, it is unclear whether Ripple’s lawsuit against the SEC may have other cases that could affect its outcome.
Ripple: the crypto news about NBA Top Shot NFTs and the case against the SEC
Arguably, Ripple’s never-ending lawsuit against the SEC on the issue that XRP may be a security is haunting lawyers and Twitter users to the point that they see it everywhere.
And indeed, recently, James Murphy, on Twitter “MetaLawMan,” a lawyer and strategy consultant, posted a roundup of tweets hinting that the new ruling on NBA Top Shot NFTs has something to do with Ripple.
2/ The Top Shot decision is a ruling on a Motion to Dismiss the complaint– which assumes all allegations in the complaint are true.
Ripple, on the other hand, is at the Summary Judgment stage where the judge looks at the evidence submitted by the parties.
Big difference.
— MetaLawMan (@MetaLawMan) February 22, 2023
Essentially, US District Judge Victor Marrero reportedly stated in his decision that Dapper Labs‘ NFT collection appears to meet the “security” requirements under the Howey test. On this basis, he denied Dapper Labs’ proposed motion to dismiss.
The NFT collection of NBA Top Shots was launched in 2021 and was a great success. However, in May of that year, Dapper Labs was sued by a plaintiff claiming that the NFTs were securities and were not registered with the SEC, violating securities laws in the US.
On the other hand, the years-long Ripple vs SEC case is waiting for the SEC to decide whether or not XRP is a security or not.
Ripple and John E. Deaton’s intervention on the NBA Top Shot case
Continuing with his tweets, Murphy then listed details about the judge’s ruling on the Top Shot case such as the fact that it does not cover the secondary market sale of NFT and that the collection is traded on a private blockchain. In this regard, Murphy points out that instead Ripple uses a public blockchain.
In addition to Murphy, Ripple’s lawyer John E. Deaton also spoke on the issue. Here is what he had to say:
After Discovery is concluded, the parties will file summary judgment motions. In sum, the case is just beginning. A motion to dismiss like the one filed in this case is RARELY granted.
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) February 22, 2023
Basically, Deaton points out that unlike the Ripple vs SEC case, the case against the NFT collection has just begun and the judge could still decide whether these NFTs are securities or not.
Deaton also added that the only regulatory clarity the cryptocurrency market may receive will come from the court’s ruling in the Ripple vs SEC case.
Ripple community wants to see XRP back on Coinbase
Recently, Deaton himself along with LBRY’s legal team managed to get official confirmation from the SEC that crypto sales on the secondary market, such as exchanges, do not constitute security transactions.
This is why the Ripple community began tweeting about the fact that Coinbase should list XRP again.
Admittedly, this achievement by Deaton is not about the final Ripple vs SEC verdict, which is why Coinbase could continue with its choice to keep the asset away from its crypto-exchange. In fact, nobody had ever forced the trading platform to delist, other than the “fear” of receiving a class action lawsuit due to the lawsuit over XRP.
Deaton also spoke out on the social network of crypto-lovers by reiterating that the SEC is in error on the case against Ripple and that in general those who support its win are overestimating the regulatory agency.
Once again, Deaton made it clear that XRP is not a security and does not meet the requirements of the Howey test.
Out of Ripple crypto news
The price of XRP
At the time of writing, XRP is worth $0.39. The sixth-largest crypto by market capitalization appears not to have experienced any major changes in trend.
And indeed, before the collapse of FTX that negatively affected the entire crypto market, XRP’s price even touched $0.50, whereas from 8 November 2022, XRP has been hovering around $0.40.
Essentially, on Valentine’s Day, which showed big price pumps such as Bitcoin (BTC) rising from $21,500 to nearly $25,000, and Ethereum (ETH) from $1,500 to $1,720, XRP would have jumped indeed, but from a much lower price than its average of $0.40. On 14 February XRP reportedly rose from $0.36 to $0.40.
Nevertheless, XRP still holds 1.81% dominance in the total crypto market, with a total market cap of over $19 billion.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2023/02/24/ripple-crypto-news-ripple-sec-lawsuit/