XRP is the Only Crypto in the US With Legal Clarity: Opinion

• An XRP supporter claims it is the only digital asset in the US with legal clarity.
• The supporter to Ryan Rugg that Citibank would ditch Ethereum for XRP.
• According to Joseph Grundfest, only the Federal Courts can provide clarification on digital assets clarification.

A renowned digital asset investor and XRP supporter identified as Digital Asset Investor. XRP has said that XRP is the only digital asset in the United States with legal clarity. According to the investor, he told Ryan Rugg, head of digital assets for Citibank’s TTS business, that her organization would ditch Ethereum for XRP.

The digital assets investor referenced a speech by Joseph Grundfest, a nationally prominent expert on capital markets, corporate governance, and securities litigation. Grundfest stated that the clarification of crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ether can only be decided by the Federal Courts if and when the appropriate litigation arises, and not by speeches. 

In his remarks, Grundfest noted that the logic in the speech may be persuasive to the court or not. No matter how that pans out, the capital market expert emphasized that it remains a speech and not a legal decision. 

According to Grundfest, they could articulate the logic in a brief filed with the court but would have no precedential effect. He added that unless the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) takes formal rule-making action, speeches and other pronouncements by the SEC do not have the force of law.

Grundfest focused on the analysis by the renowned former Director at SEC, William Hinman, noting that it depends upon Hinman’s understanding of facts regarding Bitcoin and Ether as of June 2018. Grundfest noted that Hinman did not explain why he concluded that Bitcoin and Ether are sufficiently decentralized.

The capital markets expert further explained that there is a need to state the reason for reaching such a conclusion. According to him, that is the basis for attributing any legal qualification to the entities in question. He noted that not laying down the facts could lead others to embark on creating crypto products without providing the facts of their decentralization.