Ripple Attorney Stuart Alderoti: “SEC is a hammer hitting crypto companies”

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Ripple's legal adviser claims that the American regulator is deliberately introducing ambiguity into the legal proceedings with the company in order to continue to adhere to its anti-cryptocurrency position.

Stuart Alderotyaccused the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of deliberately suppressing cryptocurrency innovation using the case against Ripple. Let us recall that the regulator previously sued the company for the 2013 ICO, calling XRP coins unregistered securities. The company's litigation with the department has been going on for a year and a half.

Ripple denied the SEC's allegations, citinga speech by William Hinman, head of the commission's corporate finance division, in 2018. In his speech, the official said that Bitcoin and Ethereum are sufficiently decentralized that they may not be classified as securities. Ripple is trying to prove that this statement also applies to XRP. The regulator insists that Hinman expressed his personal opinion and not the official position of the SEC.

"The SEC's main goal is to intimidate, bankrupt andDestroy cryptocurrency companies across the country. The SEC imagines itself as a hammer that wants to hit crypto companies like nails. The argument that digital currencies, particularly XRP, should be considered securities deliberately introduces regulatory ambiguity. The SEC is stifling the development of crypto innovation, hiding it under the expansion of its powers regarding the regulation of cryptocurrencies,” the lawyer is outraged.

Alderoti believes that the department is deliberatelyadds confusion to the matter. No one in the crypto industry was able to interpret Hinman's speech as a personal opinion. After the speech of the SEC top manager, the conclusion suggests itself that XRP should be considered a commodity or virtual currency operating in an open and decentralized ecosystem, Alderoti argues.

“Four years have passed since the “famous”Hinman’s speech, but regulators are no closer to understanding how to classify digital assets in the US, including ether,” the lawyer tweeted.

Many lawyers and analysts believe that the outcomeThe proceedings between the SEC and Ripple could have a major impact on how US regulators view cryptocurrencies and how securities laws apply to them. Former SEC executive director Joseph Hall believes that Ripple has a chance of winning, which will ultimately reduce regulatory pressure on the industry.