2022 will see the SEC v. Ripple reach a conclusion, whether through settlement or via court ruling.
The XRP market saw daily trading volumes drop gradually as the year 2021 ended, though they kept above the $1 billion mark, according to data from coinmarketcap.com.
Crypto investors and the overall industry have been eyeing the digital asset as they look for answers of what to expect from regulators as the space matures.
XRP lawsuit spans three years: 2020, 2021, 2022
2020 was the year the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit had its official start. Jay Clayton, former SEC Chair, signed the complaint on 22 December 2020. Something that Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse commented on days ago on Twitter.
“Of all the shitty things in 2020, this was certainly one to cap the year Rolling on the floor laughing. But what I said then remains (painfully) true today: this is an attack on crypto in the US, not just Ripple.”
2021 was the year both parties pursued their litigation strategies with the fact discovery process showing the plaintiff is pushing the narrative that Ripple marketed and sold XRP as securities contracts.
The defendants – Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen – are more focused on the lack of proper notice from the SEC that XRP could be considered a security.
The many inconsistencies in the SEC’s communications throughout the years have left many market participants wondering which digital assets could be deemed a security.
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First Telegram, then Ripple, then Ethereum?
Clearly, clarity isn’t one of the SEC’s talents. In 2020, the SEC filed a complaint and won against Telegram (TON) because of an unregistered securities offering via initial coin offering (ICO).
That was two years after ex-SEC William Hinman’s 2018 speech, where he stated that ETH is not a security…although Ethereum had raised funds in 2014 via ICO as well.
As Ripple kept pointing at the agency’s inconsistencies throughout the lawsuit, the SEC has backtracked in regard to any speech made by an official, even when they were publicly commenting on behalf of the regulator.
We still have to wait a while to learn if that move has convinced the Judge, but as the new year starts, the news about what is happening in court is expected to flow on a nearly daily basis.
2022 will see the SEC v. Ripple reach a conclusion, whether through settlement or via court ruling. This will most likely happen this quarter, Q1 2022, and the outcome will set the rules for future encounters with the SEC as the agency shows no signs of ending its regulation-by-enforcement practice.
