Public documents reveal that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has previously referred to Ripple as a “digital currency company.”
Lawyer and XRP enthusiast Jeremy Hogan unearthed the reference in an SEC public document from 2016.
Explains the lawyer,
“Apparently the SEC agreed with FinCen – at least back in 2016! The SEC must now explain to the Court how a ‘digital currency’ transformed to a ‘digital security.'”
The SEC filed its lawsuit against Ripple in late December, declaring that XRP is a security and accusing the San Francisco payments company of selling the crypto asset without proper authorization.
The regulatory agency also filed suit against Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, claiming they both played significant roles in negotiating and approving Ripple’s institutional sales.
On Tuesday, Judge Sarah Netburn, the presiding official in the case, granted Ripple the right to examine the SEC’s internal discussions to determine whether or not the Commission differentiates XRP from Bitcoin and Ethereum in said conversations, Law360 reports.
The SEC does not classify Bitcoin nor Ethereum as securities. Netburn reportedly referred to her ruling as a “high-stakes” discovery win for Ripple.
Garlinghouse, Ripple’s chief executive, appears to be pleased with Netburn’s ruling.
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