Ripple (XRP) Rallies in Lieu of Ongoing SEC Lawsuit

-Ripple (XRP) rallied on Friday as the crypto market stabilized after Terra’s depegging sent shockwaves throughout the industry.

-Ripple ended Thursday at $0.377384, rallying to $0.439217 by the end of Friday, data from Coingecko shows.

-The SEC added a small victory to its plate in the ongoing case against Ripple Lab, whereby a judge granted the SEC’s request to file a reply brief in connection with the SEC’s attorney-client privilege claims regarding the 2018 communications made by former Corporation Finance Director William Hinman.

-Uncovered emails revealed that Hinman knowingly had a conflict of interest in making the speech before delivering it.

-In his speech, Hinman opined that Ether is not a security, stating that ‘based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.’

-The SEC must respond to Filan’s arguments by May 18.

-The SEC’s primary argument in the ongoing lawsuit centers around the allegation of Ripple, by and through its XRP token, violating the Securities Act of 1933.

-Ripple’s defense is that XRP serves purposes that invalidate its classification as a security.

-Ripple has argued that its currency is used as an intermediary for remittance payments and is not a security.

-After that, Ripple’s defense requested internal SEC communications concerning a potential uncertainty on which assets the SEC can oversee, which a judge granted on a limited basis.

-Ripple then argued that the SEC had not timeously clarified which assets fell under its jurisdiction, giving the company no warning about how existing laws apply to its product.

-The SEC countered by saying that Ripple obtained legal advice in 2012 identifying XRP as an investment vehicle requiring SEC oversight.

-Up and until Hinman’s 2018 statements, the the SEC had been investigating whether Ethereum’s close ties to its founders rendered it centralized, making it a security.