Ripple has filed a motion requesting the US Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose its internal trading policies for cryptocurrencies as part of an ongoing legal dispute with securities regulators.
Will SEC Allow its Employees to Trade XRP an Unregistered Security?
James Filan, a lawyer who is closely following the SEC’s case against Ripple, shared a new filing document aimed at clarifying whether the SEC will allow its employees to trade XRP, which regulators have alleged to be an unregistered security.
On Friday, a motion on behalf of several defendants, including Ripple Labs, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Ripple Executive Chairman Chris Larsen, urged the U.S. District Court for the southern borough of New York to compel the SEC to provide data on its commercial policy for the administration of digital assets.
The filing aims to force the SEC to provide anonymous documents reflecting the “pre-approval decision of the transaction” not only for XRP but also for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). “Defendants also seek certifications concerning SEC employees’ XRP holdings — again, either with redactions of personal information or in aggregate form,” the motion said.
The defendants emphasized that their previous efforts to obtain the information from the SEC have failed so far. “We met and conferred with the SEC on this issue on July 8, July 15, Aug. 18 and Aug. 25, without progress,” the motion noted.
Filan said the court has asked the SEC to respond to the latest motion by September 3. The lawyer added that the order was a “text-only order,” which meant that no separate written order was presented.
Sarah Netburn Scheduled a Virtual Meeting for August 31st.
Ripple’s most recent legal attempt is to discuss the company’s pending motion as the community anticipates an upcoming virtual meeting with the SEC to compel regulators to provide a series of documents that the defendants believe are relevant to their “fair notice” defense. Sarah Netburn, district judge for the U.S. District Court for the southern borough of New York, has scheduled an online meeting for August 31st.
As previously reported, the US Securities and Exchange Commission launched a major lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, accusing XRP of an unregistered securities offering valued at $1.3 billion. Last month, Judge Netburn ruled in Ripple Labs’ favour by allowing William Hinman, the SEC’s former director of corporate finance, to testify. The SEC manager is best known for his 2018 speech which showed that the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, ether, is not a security.
