John Deaton, who is currently representing more than 50,000 XRP holders, is planning to file a FOIA request in relation to the files that Judge Netburn had ruled to not be protected by DPP privilege. The documents contain notes from a meeting that was held with third parties who are not associated with Ripple, and according to Deaton, these third parties could be representatives from Ethereum and ConsenSys. Other participants in the meeting are Hinman and a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. When the files are released, John Deaton will be able to verify whether XRP, BTC, and ETH had been distinguished in the meeting.
What Are the Implications of these Documents?
The Ripple vs SEC lawsuit is based on the fact that Ripple Labs sold XRP to raise money without registering the asset as a security. The charges were filed by the SEC against the company and two Ripple executives, and the total amount that was in question was $1.3 billion. According to the SEC complaint, the practice had been running since 2013, and the asset was sold to people in the USA and worldwide.
In 2018, a meeting was held, where an official from the SEC stated that Ethereum is not a security. By disclosing the documents regarding the meeting, Ripple Labs lawyers will be able to use the argument that cryptocurrencies are not securities. However, the documents must not distinguish between ETH and XRP or any other cryptocurrencies. The speech in question was made by William Hinman at a Yahoo Finance Crypto Summit, and his argument was that ETH could not be considered a security since it is sufficiently decentralized.
A large batch of documents have been concealed as they qualified for legal privilege, and these include notes by Valerie Szczepanik, the crypto expert of the SEC. While Judge Netburn agreed with the SEC when it came to certain documents, she rejected their argument for a number of other batches of files. In the case of Hinman’s speech, the argument was rejected because the speech concerned his personal views and not those of the SEC. The document will help to influence the legal system and the general public.
Experts predict that the lawsuit will be concluded by April 2022, and this will either be by settlement or court ruling.
XRP Price and Overview
The lawsuit has led to a decrease in the trading activity of XRP in the USA, but the coin is still actively being traded internationally. It is currently trading at a price of $0.6026, and it has a market cap of $28.7 billion. The current price is extremely low, considering the fact that its highest recorded price was $3.04, and this was recorded in 2018. More recently in April 2021, the price of the altcoin was $1.839. With the end of the Ripple lawsuit coming, the price of the altcoin is set to go back up. Even with the reduced trading of Ripple, it is still the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Conclusion
XRP is among the oldest cryptocurrencies, and it has been the subject of extreme SEC scrutiny. At the moment, the company is fighting a lawsuit against the SEC, and this is likely to be settled with the release of documents regarding Hinman’s speech. Hinman was an official of the agency and famously claimed that ETH did not qualify to be a security. If the same logic is applied to XRP, the company will have a great chance of winning the case.
Sources:
• financefeeds.com/sec-v-ripple-judge-aware-of-xrp-armys-investigative-work-atty-hogan/
• fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/lawyers-believe-that-sec-vs-ripple-case-could-end-with-the-payment-giants-win-in-april-202201030901
• sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-338
• decrypt.co/90433/ripple-hinman-ruling
• financefeeds.com/ripples-xrp-price-predictions-ahead-of-sec-lawsuit-end-capital-com/
• coinmarketcap.com/currencies/xrp/
