Attorney Bill Morgan has highlighted the importance of a recent debate within the cryptocurrency community. Morgan noted that a speech disowned by the SEC, which XRP supporters claim doesn’t grant legal clarity to Bitcoin and Ethereum, isn’t equivalent to the legal clarity that XRP enjoys.
This response came in reaction to a statement by Joseph Grundfest, a popular expert in capital markets, corporate governance, and securities litigation. , an XRP supporter, who said that XRP is the only digital asset in the United States with legal clarity.
Grundfest pointed out that legal clarity for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether can only be established through Federal Court decisions in specific litigation cases, not speeches. Regardless of whether the logic presented in the speech is convincing to the court or not, Grundfest stressed that it remains a speech and not a legally binding decision.
He also doubts the SEC’s William Hinman’s analysis of Bitcoin and Ether, saying that Hinman didn’t explain why he thought these cryptocurrencies were decentralized in June 2018.
The legal battle between Ripple and the SEC is set to continue as a federal judge, Analisa Torres, has ruled that the case will proceed to trial without conclusively settling all matters. A recent decision declared that Ripple’s token is considered a security when sold to institutional investors but not to the regular public. Judge Torres issued a mixed ruling, agreeing with the SEC that direct sales of XRP to institutional investors were unlawful securities sales. This is seen as a big win for the crypto industry in its fight with the SEC.
