Recent statements by an attorney who claims to have attended a court hearing in the ongoing US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s case against blockchain company Ripple might have helped XRP today.
At the time of writing (14:07 UTC), XRP, ranked 7th by market capitalization, trades at USD 0.563 and is up by 11% in a day and 27% in a week, almost erasing its monthly losses. The price is up by 259% in a year.
“On a scale of 1-10, this hearing was an 11 for Ripple,” attorney Jeremy Hogan, who is not one of the lawyers in the case, said in a video, claiming the regulator’s lawyer allegedly implied that exchanges wouldn’t be violating securities laws by relisting XRP.
This discovery hearing was related to one of the four pending main motions in the case, specifically to compel the discovery of the documents by the SEC related to two executive’s financial information. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn asked if there is any evidence that the trading records provided are incomplete or fraudulent, to which Hogan said the SEC didn’t have “a good response.”
Also, according to the attorney, the Judge said that her “understanding about XRP is that not only does it have a currency value but it has a utility and that utility distinguishes it from bitcoin and ether.” Hogan said that Netburn is resting her statement on two premises: XRP having currency value and utility – which is opposite of a security, which the SEC argues XRP is.
The Judge also “skeptically made a remark to the SEC attorney that based upon his theory everybody who’s sold XRP […] are selling illegal securities,” Hogan said. According to him, the SEC’s attorney replied that only Ripple and its employees can sell it illegally. Hogan suggested that this means that the exchanges which delisted XRP due to this case were not and would not violate the securities law if they relisted it.
Additionally, per Hogan, after the motion to intervene – filed by XRP holders who were alleging that they were not being adequately represented in the lawsuit – had been denied, the letter was refiled, asking for the court to allow “over ten thousand XRP Holders” to intervene in the action.
Cryptonews.com has contacted Ripple and the SEC for comment.
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Learn more:
– SEC Lists 3 Reasons for Seeking Ripple Execs’ Financial Info on XRP Deals
– Ripple and YouTube End the Court Battle
– SEC Hits out at Ripple’s ‘Lack of Due Process’ in Letter to Judge
– Fact-checking Ripple’s Claim that ‘Many G20 Gov’ts’ Call XRP a ‘Currency’
