In the lawsuit between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple, the SEC responded to Ripple’s request, and the institution said that Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP were never on the list of prohibited assets, only XRP was listed as ‘assets under watch’ in 2018. Lawyer John Deaton, who has been following the case closely, reacted to this response.
Interesting times continue to be experienced in the lawsuit filed by the SEC against the Ripple company for the alleged illegal sale of securities. As new official files on the case emerged, the SEC’s response to Ripple was also revealed.
As it is known, in the past weeks, the Ripple company requested information about Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP transactions from SEC employees and requested that they be submitted to the court. The SEC denied this request. Court judge Sarah Netburn also gave the SEC until September 4 to respond to Ripple’s request. The response of the institution could be seen with the disclosure of the court files.
SEC: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP not on the banned list
The SEC made an interesting comment in its refusal to Ripple’s request and argued that the employees of the institution are not prohibited from “trading” in these 3 cryptocurrencies, and therefore, information on the subject should not be submitted to the court.
According to the information shared by the account named @CryptoLawUS on Twitter; announced that XRP, which is the subject of the lawsuit, is not on the banned list, but only on the list of “watched assets” in 2018.
Can employees buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum?
In the SEC’s response, it seems that Bitcoin and Ethereum are neither on the “prohibited assets” nor “watched assets” list. Therefore, it seems that employees are clearly allowed to transact Ethereum (and Bitcoin) at any time.
Hinman’s speech in 2018…
As it will be remembered, William Hinman, whom Ripple brought to the court and made his statement at the hearing, has a speech in 2018 stating that Ethereum is not a security. The Ripple side claims that XRP is not a security either, by making the Ethereum benchmark. The SEC, on the other hand, states that Ethereum is not subject to lawsuits. However, the judge’s attitude here is in favor of Ripple…
Reaction from lawyer John Deaton: Are you kidding!
Lawyer John Deaton, who has been following the case since the beginning of the process and provided information on both Twitter and Youtube, reacted to SEC’s response and questioned whether the employees who were aware of Hinman’s speech made Ethereum transactions:
“Are you kidding! Ether has never been on the list of banned assets. So, for example, SEC employees could buy Ethereum on June 13, 2018, 1 day before Hinman’s speech? And this is not an ‘inside trade’ just because Hinman said ‘Ethereum is not a security’! This case couldn’t have gotten any worse.”
As is known, the SEC refuses to disclose any information regarding the personal transactions of both its employees and their family members. The agency also does not want to disclose information about Hinman’s meeting schedule or who wrote/edited his speech.
John Deaton: SEC has no digital asset policy
Attorney Deaton also said that the SEC has some policies regarding owning securities for its employees, but that does not apply to digital assets:
“Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP have never been on the ‘prohibited assets’ list. Because the SEC had a policy on securities for its employees, but for digital assets, it didn’t exist until 2018. Who bought Ethereum in the institution before Hinman’s speech on June 14, 2018?”
SEE ALSO: What is EtherRocks and Why is It So Expensive?
