- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States has purposefully muddied the regulatory waters for cryptocurrency […] We need to finally clean up this regulatory muck in order to unleash crypto’s genuine potential.
- Ripple retaliated, saying that a 2018 statement by Robert Hinman, then-Director of Corporation Finance for the Securities and Exchange Commission, had classified Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC), and by extension XRP, as non-security due to their sufficiently decentralized nature.
- The legal battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission is anticipated to create a precedent for how cryptocurrencies, particularly altcoins, are treated under US securities and commodities regulations.
The SEC, like a hammer, wants everything to be a nail, so it can argue that every crypto is security, asserts Ripple chief counsel Stu Alderoty. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been criticized by Ripple general counsel Stu Alderoty for attempting to bully, bulldoze, and bankrupt crypto innovation in the US for the purpose of expanding its own regulatory territory:
Most Crucial Components
By taking enforcement actions–or threatening to take enforcement actions–the SEC seeks to bulldoze, bulldoze, and bankrupt crypto innovation in the United States, all in the name of impermissibly increasing its own jurisdictional limitations. Alderoty expressed his thoughts on Monday in the midst of a legal battle between Ripple and the SEC, which he claims is part of the SEC’s assault on all crypto in the US by classifying all cryptocurrencies as securities:
Like a hammer who wants everything to be a nail, the SEC keeps things confusing so it can argue that every crypto is security. Since December 2020, when the Securities and Exchange Commission documented a claim charging that Ripple chiefs utilized Ripple (XRP) tokens to raise assets for the organization starting in 2013, claiming it was unregistered security at the time, Ripple Labs has been embroiled in a legal battle with the SEC.
Ripple retaliated, saying that a 2018 statement by Robert Hinman, then-Director of Corporation Finance for the Securities and Exchange Commission, had classified Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC), and by extension XRP, as non-security due to their sufficiently decentralized nature.
Ripple said that the statement contradicted the SEC’s allegations against Ripple and the XRP coin, but the SEC retorted that the speech represented the director’s personal opinions and not the regulator’s official position. One of the most crucial components of the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit has been this ambiguity.
Despite cautions that the speech was Hinman’s personal opinion and not necessarily that of the Commission, Alderoty noted, the market took Hinman’s comments to heart. For Ripple, Hinman’s lecture confirmed that XRP — a cryptocurrency that lives on an open, permissionless, decentralized blockchain ledger — is a commodity and/or virtual currency. He went on to say, Certainly not security. The speech, according to Alderoty, exemplified the SEC’s deliberate muddying of the regulatory waters for crypto:
Unleashing Crypto’s Genuine Potential
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States has purposefully muddied the regulatory waters for cryptocurrency […] We need to finally clean up this regulatory muck in order to unleash crypto’s genuine potential. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Tim Kaine agreed at a Washington Post event on June 8 that most cryptocurrencies would likely be classified as securities under the Howey Test, with the obvious exception of Bitcoin and Ether.
While there are probably hundreds of coins that duplicate security coins, Rostin Behnam, chief of the Commodity Futures Trading Organization (CTFC), took a somewhat different approach, indicating that many commodity coins, like BTC and ETH, will be regulated by his commission. The legal battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission is anticipated to create a precedent for how cryptocurrencies, particularly altcoins, are treated under US securities and commodities regulations.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/06/14/ripples-lawyer-criticizes-the-sec-for-attempting-to-bulldoze-as-well-as-bankrupt-cryptocurrency/