Ripple has filed its response to the US SEC’s complaints. The blockchain firm filed its response on January 29th and filed a Freedom Of Information Act request. Ripple provides an answer to each of the complaints the SEC had against Ripple Labs inc and its co-founders Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. The group is primarily arguing that XRP is not a security. Earlier, SEC had filed a lawsuit against Ripple alleging that they sold unregistered security.
XRP performs several functions that are distinct from the functions of “securities.”
Ripple stated in its reply that XRP performs a number of distinct functions from the functions of “securities,” as the law has understood that term for decades. For example, XRP functions as a medium of exchange — a virtual currency used today in international and domestic transactions — moving value between jurisdictions and facilitating transactions. It is not a security, and the SEC has no authority to regulate it as one, Ripple noted in its opening argument. Ripple provided 93 pages worth of reasons why XRP is not a security and why its sale did not constitute an unregistered securities offering.
Ripple makes several comparisons to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Throughout the letter, the Ripple Labs team makes several comparisons to BTC and ethereum and asks for clarity regarding why both of those digital currencies, especially ethereum, are not considered securities even though Ethereum’s initial offering has several similarities to Ripple’s initial offering. The company also filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn why Ethereum is not considered security even though the XRP and ETH initial sales had a similar structure. A Freedom of Information Act request allows the party that files the request to access federal documents and information related to an incident.
