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Ripple Attorney Breaks Down SEC’s Intepretation Of XRP

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Ripple advocate James K. Filan has briefly summarized the SEC’s argument in his opinion. According to him, although the regulator does not explicitly state that XRP is a security, its major line of defense is that any purchase of the token is, in actuality, an investment with other XRP holders and with Ripple.

While XRP may not be a security per se, the only way it can be offered or sold is as a security, he continued. “And when you grasp what the SEC is saying, regardless of how it is presented, the SEC wants a judgment that encompasses secondary sales.”

SEC considers every unit of XRP, to be an investment contract with Ripple and unregistered securities, even if it is purchased and sold on the secondary market by people who are not affiliated with or familiar with the firm.

Ripple, on the other hand, argued that XRP is not a security because it has no “post-sale” obligations to purchasers and slammed the plaintiff’s stance as “overreaching and illegal”.

Last week, the San-Francisco-based payment firm filed its application seeking a summary judgment as there is no “investment contract” giving investors rights or obliging the issuer to perform in their best interests.

In a similar manner, the SEC is requesting a decision in its favor without a trial, arguing that purchasing the token involves an “investment in a shared company with other XRP holders and with Ripple” and that purchasers anticipate making a profit.

That said, the XRP litigation has drawn focus from the crypto community. David Gokhshtein, the founder of Gokhshtein Media, recently commented that a victory for Ripple would significantly affect the entire crypto market.

Ripple’s Win Will Trigger XRP Price Explosion

A dramatic XRP price explosion could result from the court judgment in Ripple’s favor in the legal battle with the agency.

The SEC filed the action in December 2020 after alleging that Ripple and two of its senior executives, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, sold XRP tokens worth more than $1.3 billion while misleading investors into believing they would receive substantial returns on the company’s earnings.

Gokhshtein praised the XRP Army in a different tweet. He said that it takes “patience and diamond hands” to endure such a hard legal process.

XRP Lawsuit: Ripple Gets A Legal Boost Ahead of Crucial Court Verdict

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In a new update to the XRP lawsuit, Ripple’s legal team got a major boost with the addition of Attorney Bethan Rhian, as shared by the former federal prosecutor, James K. Filan.

“Attorney Bethan Rhian Jones has filed an application to appear and join the Ripple Labs’ defense team. Attorney Jones is with Kellogg Hansen,” the tweet read.

According to attorney Jones’ bio, 2018 saw the lawyer working as an associate for Kellogg Hansen. Ms. Jones advises clients in complicated business disputes and specializes in instances involving antitrust, telecommunications, and the False Claims Act.

The latest addition comes at a time when Ripple awaits important decisions, including those relating to the DPP and the legal dispute over the records of former SEC official William Hinman.

James K. Filan recently predicted that the SEC may attempt to submit a motion for certification of an interlocutory appeal to the Second Circuit if it loses privilege issues before Judge Torres.

Previously, Ripple hired two Kellogg Hansen attorneys in July who were Kylie Chiseul Kim and Clayton J. Masterman to add teeth to its legal team.

XRP Rose By 68% In A Week

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse appeared on Fox Business this week and spoke about XRP’s price and its implications with the Ripple lawsuit. 

“Before the SEC got involved with us and ETH, XRP was the second-most valuable digital asset ahead of ETH,” he stated. Garlinghouse also said for Ripple, a trial is unnecessary since the facts of the case “aren’t really in dispute”.

“We think [the judge] has the information she needs to make a ruling, and we think it’s very clear the SEC is grossly overreaching their authority,” he said.

Following a robust week of gains and investor confidence in the SEC’s case against Ripple, XRP, a cryptocurrency originally founded by the creators of the crypto payments business Ripple, soared an impressive 68% on 23 Sept in just seven days.

Since then, the price of the sixth-ranked asset has retraced and is exchanging hands at 48 cents, at the time of writing this post. In the last 24 hours, XRP is down 0.42% with a market cap standing at $24 billion.

XRP-Based ODL Expands Its Use Case In Philippines’ Largest Fintech

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Ripple’s ODL Solution which leverages XRP for cross-border treasury flows, would be now utilized for scaling up the internal treasury management in Philippines’ largest non-bank remittance firm, I-Remit.

This isn’t the first time for the domestic fintech as it has been an early adopter of ODL and was using the blockchain-enabled enterprise solution to clear cross-border payments in real-time and cost-effectively into the Philippines.

In order to provide rapid and inexpensive settlement without the need to hold pre-funded money in a destination market, On-Demand Liquidity, or ODL, leverages XRP, the digital currency created for payments as a bridge between two fiat currencies, as stated in the press release.

But in this case, it would be used to accelerate I-Remit’s internal payout capabilities, instead of relying on outdated infrastructure.

By leveraging ODL for treasury payments, I-Remit is now able to get 24/7, all-year-round access to liquidity for their funding requirements, thereby enabling same-day settlement globally. Having eliminated the need to pre-fund destination accounts over several days, I-Remit can now channel these funds to scale the business operations of its overseas subsidiaries and support its partners.

The latest expansion has put I-Remit in the league of companies such as FOMO Pay, Novatti, FlashFX, Tranglo, SBI Remit, Pyypl.

First High-profile Game On XRP Ledger Announced

Just yesterday, one of XRP ledger’s top projects, the onXRP modular ecosystem, inked a deal with Ripple, Armiin van Buuren’s music label, Armada, and Styngr simultaneously with the launch of its highly anticipated free-to-play battle royale game Maladroids.

The in-game radio will be combined with a playlist prepared by top electronic dance music artists including Tom Staar and Kryder, both of whom are on the Armada label, thanks to the collaboration of onXRP’s new partners.

According to Styngr, who revealed the partnership’s specifics, the musicians would create two new songs each month just for Maladroids. Additionally, as part of the collaboration, NFT audio will be made available.

It is the first play-to-win multiplayer game project built on the XRP blockchain.

Meanwhile, the token’s price rallied by over 13% in just a few hours, making it the biggest gainer among the top 10 crypto assets in the backdrop of Ripple‘s legal win prospects.


Ripple Put SEC In A Tight Spot After Filing Motion To Rule In Its Favour

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Ripple labs, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen have filed Motion for Summary Judgment seeking judgment as a matter of law, defense attorney James K Filan shared the latest update.

Filan also stated that these motions were not expected until 19th Sept. and so they were filed early.

Summary judgment is filed when “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

The 93-page document mainly includes rebuttals about Ripple and its relation to XRP. Citing instances of how Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen utilized XRP to donate to charities as well as the early XRP Ledger developers to demonstrate that XRP is not used as an investment contract.

Ripple slammed SEC claims that every offer and sale of XRP is the offer and sale of an “investment contract” even if the seller has no connection with Ripple as “wrong and overreaching”.

Ripple’s GC Stuart Alderoty, a known critic of the financial regulator took aim by saying that the SEC is acting outside its legal purview. “The SEC is not looking to apply the law – they are looking to remake the law in the hopes that it can impermissibly expand their jurisdiction.”

Ripple Vs SEC legal War Heading For An Decisive End?

Another interesting observation made by the defendants in the motion was the market forces angle which they claimed proved fatal to the agency’s allegations.

This is because an SEC expert himself agreed that from 2018, the price of XRP correlates more closely with the prices of bitcoin and Ether–that is, the cryptocurrency market as a whole, rather than with any action or statement of Ripple.

Speaking on the latest development, Attorney Jeremy Hogan tweeted that these types of “concessions” are perfect for summary judgment. Hogan also pointed out the regulator failed to get on record that any XRP purchaser heeded Ripple‘s alleged marketing pitch.

“A big problem because it has the burden to prove EVERYTHING here”, the post read.

Crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong believed that marketing tactics would end up being the focal point of this case and eventually be the trigger point for a settlement.

“Ripple has no reason to settle at this point, but this does make me believe we are heading to the final stages here,” he quipped.

Ripple’s General Counsel Tears Into SEC Chair’s Testimony

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Ripple’s general counsel Stuart Alderoty slammed U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler for his remark that the Supreme Court has already determined what is and isn’t considered a security.

“Was it intentional or does he really not know the law? Which is worse?” Alderoty tweeted.

“Gensler said it’s security if the investing public is anticipating profits based on the efforts of a common enterprise. The Courts already rejected that, b/c it collapses two separate Howey prongs into one and: “We do not interpret the Howey test to be so easily satisfied,” Ripple’s GA added.

On September 15, Republican Senator Pat Toomey quizzed Gary Gensler, chairman of the regulatory giant, regarding the structure the agency uses to oversee cryptocurrencies and on Gensler’s statements that almost all cryptocurrencies are similar to unregistered securities.

During the Senate Banking Committee oversight hearing, Toomey expressed concern that the agency isn’t doing its duties to its standard.

The US senator for Pennsylvania also asserted that the SEC lacks the necessary transparency. The issue, he claimed, is that the commission refuses to divulge the structure it employs.

Toomey also pointed out the differences between traditional securities and crypto, noting that these differences “merit a clearly stated and tailored regulatory framework.”

On the other hand, Gensler responded and maintained his stance that there is a well-established, multifactor standard that most tokens meet and that the Supreme Court has already addressed the meaning of security.

Toomey added that the SEC should offer “far more clarity” in the interim until Congress can step in and create a clear framework for crypto investors. The republican member also called out the financial watchdog for its inability to help investors adequately when the market had a dip earlier this year.

Ripple’s Stuart Alderoty Accused SEC Of Power Grabbing

In response, Gensler said that many companies need to come forward and directly talk with the SEC about listing and selling tokens. Gensler also thinks that there should be “one officer on the beat” in charge of overseeing cryptocurrency regulation.

The SEC chairman dismissed the notion that cryptocurrencies need specific regulation in a recent statement at an industry conference.

Alderoty of Ripple has repeatedly criticized the SEC’s stance saying that it was behind a “political power grab.”

Ripple is currently entangled in a grueling legal battle with the SEC, whose outcome is widely believed to have massive implications for the cryptocurrency industry.


Ripple To Roll Out CBDC Projects In “Few Weeks”

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Ripple would soon dish out more central bank digital currency [CBDC] projects in the coming weeks, as revealed by the firm’s advisor Antony Welfare handles CBDC Europe and global partnership.

The announcement came in response to a tweet by a crypto proponent Sentosumosaba who shared an article dated 17 June where Welfare spoke on Ripple’s progress on several CBDC pilot programs including the Royal Monetary Authority [RMA] of Bhutan and the Republic of Palau.

Back in March 2021, the blockchain firm for the first time piloted a private version of the public, open-source XRP Ledger, thus highlighting the firm’s commitment to the digital currency sector.

Ripple in its blog claimed that Moving money on the CBDC Private Ledger will be cost-effective, reliable, and close to instantaneous.

It also began engaging with Central Banks around the world to better understand their goals and assess how the CBDC Private Ledger can help achieve them. 

A week ago, Ripple was identified as one of the initial participants of a “Technical Sandbox Program” launched by US-based think tank Digital Dollar Project, aimed at exploring the potential technical and business effects of a CBDC in the United States.

Ripple’s CBDC Innovate Hackathon With Over $197,000 In Prizes

In June, the blockchain entity also rolled out its first online CBDC hackathon called “Ripple CBDC Innovate”, which promised winners a total prize pool of $197,000.

The competition brought 483 participants to build CBDC-focused applications in any one of the three categories. First, improve interoperability of CBDCs and digital assets, second make it easier for retail use and interaction, and third- bring banking to neglected populations.

According to the CBDC Innovate website, the first stage finalists are set to be announced on Sept. 8, who will then progress to the second phase of the competition.

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Ripple To Roll Out CBDC Projects In "Few Weeks" 2

Three weeks back, the leading provider of enterprise blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, announced the launch of RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity [ODL] in Brazil with Travelex Bank, the first bank in Latin America to utilize the technology.

Ripple recently hosted a two-day “The Apex XRPL Dev Summit” in Las Vegas which featured a number of new XRP payment solutions.

One of the main focuses of the summit will be on CBDC issues. In particular, the finalists of the CBDC Innovate Challenge will be announced.

Cardano Dethrones XRP to Rank 7th in Global Market Cap

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Cardano (ADA) is presently outdoing XRP in terms of market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap data. Cardano is now the seventh largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of $16.6 billion, in front of XRP’s market cap of $16 billion.

Cardano is gaining traction as a result of positive news about upcoming Vasil updates, exchange listings, and positive investor sentiment. Cardano was outshining the top ten cryptocurrencies in terms of 24-hour gains yesterday.

The asset’s trading interest is also reflected in a 30% increase in trading volumes, with 1.8 billion (1,891,419,122) ADA traded in the last 24 hours as per yesterday’s data from CoinMarketCap.

ADA is currently trading at $0.4867, with a 3% price drop in the last 24 hours.

Cardano’s Vasil upgrade

Cardano’s creator, Input Output, revealed on Friday that the Vasil update is scheduled to release on September 22. The date was also confirmed by ADA’s creator, Charles Hoskinson, which sparked enthusiasm in the community. ADA’s listing on Robinhood is another noteworthy event from the previous week.

The stock trading app Robinhood pledged support for ADA on Thursday.  As the neighborhood processed the news of the upcoming Vasil release, which is expected to bring improvements to, Cardano’s ADA grew slightly to reach a high of $0.5 on September 4.

Plutus is anticipated to benefit from improvements that will let developers build more potent and effective blockchain-based applications.

The SPO and Dapp communities, according to IOG, have expressed optimism in being prepared for the hard fork on the planned date.

The ADA team added in a subsequent tweet that it is keeping an eye on all of the metrics, making it possible to announce an official launch date for the hard fork.

Founder Hoskinson stated in the video podcast that the release date corresponds with Bulgaria’s independence day, which is also the country of the late venerable member Vasil Dabov.

XRP Lawyer- SEC Is “Wrong” For Labelling Eth A Security

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XRP representative John E Deaton feels that ETH is an alphanumeric code and as such the SEC labeling ETH as security is wrong.

“I’m not saying the gov’t shouldn’t go after bad actors. Going after individuals who broke the law is different”, he stated.

Deaton who is a former Marine-turned-class-action lawyer shared his thoughts on what SEC’s head Gary Gensler might do once Ethereum’s transitioned to PoS in September. He also addressed rumors of his supposed favoritism towards the SEC for going after ETH or its founders.

Recently, I was very critical of VitalikButerin over his childish and hateful comment about XRPHolders losing their rights for protection because Ripple executives described ETH and BTC as Chinese-controlled technologies 2 yrs ago when Ripple was being sued by the SEC.

He continued by saying even if he felt Vitalik’s comments to be “demoralizing and stupid”, that doesn’t mean that he would back the authorities attacking today’s ETH the way it has other tokens.

“Tokens like XRP, ETH, ALGO, ADA, XLM, etc., traded for 5-10 years should be treated as commodities, not securities”, he added.

XRP lawsuit- Ripple Would Spent $100M

The founder of the CryptoLaw, recently said that more than $15 billion were lost because the SEC “intentionally chose not to limit the allegations against Ripple to specific sales made by Ripple and its executives but instead alleged all XRP, including secondary market sales of the token, are unregistered securities.”

This was in response to a tweet from Messari CEO Ryan Selkis, who claimed that investors lost roughly $1 billion to crypto frauds last year and another $7 billion due to the SEC’s refusal for a spot ETF.

Selkis also cited statements by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who previously claimed that the firm would spend $100 million for its legal battle with the SEC.

Earlier, Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s general counsel, criticized the SEC’s approach to consumer protection in a recent op-ed. Alderoty said that rather than protecting consumers, the SEC intends to leave them “holding the bag.”

He then went on to add that instead of working with other regulatory agencies, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has taken an assertive regulatory stance.

Ripple’s New Partnership Will Bolster Web3 Development in Japan

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A new partnership with Ripple will aid in bolstering web3 development. “Web3 Design Lab,” a new service launched by btrax Inc., is intended to assist Japanese businesses in accelerating the development of their Web3 businesses for the international market.

Takahito Iguchi, a seasoned businessman and the CEO of Audio Metaverse, has been chosen as the service’s sole advisor.

To build Web3 Design Lab alongside the XRP Ledger (XRPL), btrax will collaborate with Ripple, the market leader in enterprise blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, in conjunction with the launch.

“For nearly 10 years, Ripple has been a robust technical partner to enterprises in search of crypto and blockchain solutions to help accelerate their business, while the XRPL has served as the best-in-class blockchain for settlement of tokenized assets at scale,” said Emi Yoshikawa, VP of Strategy and Operations.

Ripple has been a helping hand in Japan

Japan’s market has long been a stronghold for ripple. To enhance cross-border payments to the Philippines, it teamed up with SBI Remit, the biggest money transfer company in the nation, last year.

Before choosing to remain in San Francisco, XRP thought of moving its headquarters base to Japan. Despite the legal clampdown in the US, the company keeps expanding globally.

As a design partner and provider of design services utilizing XRPs blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, Web3 Design Lab supports the growth of Japanese businesses.

By encouraging a proper understanding of Web3, which is quickly gaining attention globally and is anticipated to grow further in the future, btrax hopes to help revitalize the global business of Japanese companies.

On August 18, Ripple and Travelex, a bank in Latin America, announced a new partnership to increase instant cross-border crypto payments in Brazil using its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service. Ripple has been a helping aid in cross-border payments.

80% Of XRPL Validators Have Voted In Favor Of An NFT Proposal

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XRPL validators have extended their support to an NFT-focused amendment dubbed XLS-20. Announcing the same, Ripple’s top exec Emi Yoshikawa stated the proposal received the overwhelming support of 80% over a two-week period, signaling its approval.

The amendment which would allow the native non-fungible tokens [NFTs] on the XRP Ledger was voted down by seven validators at the time of publishing this post.

Back on July 6, 2022, Ripple’s General Manager Monica Long spoke about the functionality of XLS-20 on XRPL, and the role of NFTs in the path to sustainability.

This XLS-20 standard was first proposed by Ripple and is now lined up for approval from XRPL validators. If passed, the amendment is intended to make NFTs creation on the XRPL compact and efficient, while reducing any negative impact on Ledger’s performance as well as avoiding congestion at scale.

Long also explained that with XLS-20, developers can create NFTs without the additional security risks and complexities making less room for error. On top of that, it comes with smart contracts since XRPL does not require them to run to accomplish many tasks, she added.

With features like minting and auctioning built into the standard, XLS-20 seeks to bring significant ease to the developer’s creation process. 

In terms of Sustainability, the exec asserted that the blockchain firm is committed to carbon neutrality by 2030 and has pledged $100 million toward carbon market investments in May this year. These measures make the XRP ledger, the world’s first major carbon-neutral blockchain, Long claimed.

XRPL’s Creator Fund Has Drawn 4000 NFT Enthusiasts

It is worth recalling that in Sept 2021, the leading crypto solutions provider launched its native Creator Fund, pooling resources worth $250 million to attract creators in bringing their NFT projects to promote on the XRP Ledger.

As of now, it has successfully onboarded close to 4000 artists, musicians, game designers, and builders under various NFT projects.

Among the artists on deck are the author and producer Justin Bua, filmmaker Steven Sebring and xPunks. The initiative has also brought several marketplaces and creative agencies, such as Mintable, MintNFT, VSA Partners, NFT PRO, Ethernal Labs, and onXRP, to come together and connect the assemblage of diverse artists.