Ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its lawsuit against Ripple, eyes have been fixed on events which have followed. As one of the most well-known and influential cryptocurrencies around, the outcome as to whether XRP is a security will have a widespread effect. Despite this lawsuit, Ripple has managed to avoid becoming downtrodden, boasting a series of ‘small wins’ over the past few weeks.
A Closer Look by Ripple
In order to triumph over the SEC, Ripple will need all the help it can get. This week, a small bit of help manifested in the form of previously unseen documents.
In a motion put forth by Ripple, internal documents from the SEC discussing cryptocurrencies (including XRP) were requested – a request that was granted by the Courts overseeing the lawsuit.
As a result of these actions, Counsel representing the SEC in this case has taken the stance that the focus should remain on the alleged illegal actions of Ripple, and not to allow for the defendants to shift focus in the other direction.
While the contents of these documents have yet to be shared, it is the hopes of Ripple that it will find information undermining the SEC allegations that XRP is a security.
Petition Started
While Ripple itself puts up a fight against allegations that XRP is a security, legions of fans supporting the company continue to fight in their own way. The latest example of this is a petition started on change.org.
This petition, which is a cry for SEC Chairman Gary Gensler to ‘End the War on XRP’, touches on several issues at hand.
- Cease using enforcement as a first step in regulation
- Investigate the actions of former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and possible conflicting relationships
- Open channels for communication with industry participants to discuss clear frameworks
The points were summarized by petition creator Thomas Hodge, as he stated,
“Gary Gensler must end this practice of making policy through lawsuits, sit down with XRP holders themselves and listen to their stories. We want clear rules for everyone, not another SEC chairman picking winners and losers in a regulatory vacuum. And we demand an investigation that fully clarifies whether the SEC was protecting someone else’s interests instead of retail investors when the Ripple lawsuit was filed in December 2020.”
With the primary mandate of the SEC being to protect investors, many believe the regulator has failed at this, as the lawsuit has caused undue harm to the millions of existing XRP holders – more harm than Ripple ever did.
In less then 24 hours of posting the petition, thousands of signatures had already been obtained.
Business as Usual
Despite the ongoing events surrounding petitions and lawsuits, Ripple has continued business operations as usual. Ripple, which has long touted cross-border payments as a specialty, recently acquired a 40% stake in Tranglo.
Tranglo, which is based out of Asia, is said to be a pioneer in cross-border payments, and is expected to help Ripple continue to establish itself in the continent.
‘Southeast Asia’s payments landscape is highly fragmented. Each country comes with its own unique process and payments infrastructure — the lack of a standard integration for regional cross-border payments currently requires expensive workarounds. This partnership will see both companies combine their in-depth local expertise to address the challenges associated with cross-border payments.’
Market Response
Overall, each of the events described above lean towards the positive. As a result, XRP recently experienced a strong boost in market value. While the entire market has since pulled back slightly, XRP remains in a much better position than it was mere days ago.
In this most recent pump, XRP shortly breached $1.00 USD per token – a mark not seen in roughly 3 years. Despite this, it would appear nothing short of a victory over the SEC will allow for XRP to breach its former all-time-high of $3.30 USD.