Ripple (XRP) lawyer Stu Alderory recently lashed out at the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to Alderoty, the SEC is guilty of deliberately undermining innovation in the United States.
Ripple and the SEC
It is, of course, no secret that Ripple is not a fan of the SEC and their activities. The crypto company has been embroiled in a major lawsuit with the US regulator for more than a year. The SEC says Ripple is guilty of illegally selling securities securities, in the form of the XRP token. Ripple vehemently denies this.
That also means Ripple doesn’t have a good word for the SEC, as evidenced again by attorney Alderoty’s recent words during a interview with fortune†
“By instituting enforcement actions, or threatening possible enforcement, the SEC wants to intimidate, bulldoze and bankrupt crypto innovation in the US, all in the name of impermissibly pushing its own boundaries of jurisdiction.”
In the interview with fortune he stated on Monday that the lawsuit against Ripple can be seen as a war with the entire crypto industry. According to him, the SEC’s goal is to label any cryptocurrency as a security in order to gain ultimate jurisdiction over the crypto industry.
“Like a hammer who wants everything to be a nail, the SEC keeps everything obscure so it can claim any crypto is a security.”
The infamous Ripple lawsuit
Ripple is vehemently fighting back against the SEC’s allegations in the lawsuit, alleging that a 2018 speech by then SEC director Robert Hinman, ethereum (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC) and XRP had labeled a non-security.
4 years since the (in)famous Hinman speech, and we’re nowhere closer on knowing how to classify digital assets in the US – keeping every crypto, including ETH, in regulatory limbo. I penned some thoughts for @Fortune why enough is enough @SECGov† https://t.co/FB16cceaia
— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) June 13, 2022
Ripple argued that the speech contradicted the SEC’s claims against Ripple, but the SEC argued again that the speech was the director’s own personal views and not the SEC’s official views. This nuance has been one of the most pivotal aspects of the Ripple lawsuit against the SEC.