Are 52 Percent Of XRP Holders The Anwser To All Of Ripple’s Legal Troubles?

June 27, 2023 11:16 am Comments

Could over half of all XRP holders be the answer to all of Ripple’s legal troubles? Attorney John Deaton believes that they could very well be.

According to Deaton, many XRP holders weren’t even aware of Ripple Labs as a company or their role in the XRP ecosystem; and due to this lack of awareness, critical factors of the Howey test cannot be met.

Sources claim that roughly 52% of XRP holders did not buy their tokens directly through Ripple but made their purchases through the secondary market.

Additionally, Deaton went on to say that the SEC would be hard-pressed to prove intent or how users are utilizing their XRP tokens.

Deaton responded to one XRP holder by explaining:

“Yes, I said there are people like you out there as well.

And, if Ripple had direct contact with you and sold you XRP, there is a valid argument that the Howey test was met because in that scenario 1) you gave money to Ripple for XRP; 2) you entered into a common enterprise with Ripple (through vertical commonality); and 3) you were sitting back expecting profits on your XRP derived by the talents and efforts of its Joel Katz CTO, management team, board of directors and Ripple, the company.

Now, if you didn’t buy directly from Ripple and had no contract with Ripple acquiring XRP in the secondary market, it’s a different situation.

If you acquired XRP for non-investment purposes like transferring money on the ledger or utilizing the DEX, etc., it’s a different scenario.

But even if Ripple sold you an investment contract utilizing XRP as the underlying asset, it doesn’t make XRP itself a security and it certainly doesn’t turn my XRP or my daughter’s XRP into a security.”

 

Another user also shared this perspective on the ongoing Ripple lawsuit:

“The cases against Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen are as good as lost for the SEC.

Even Marc Fagel is unlikely to disagree with that. The SEC was not be able to prove “bad faith”.

Ripple will likely pay fines for some securities offerings before ODL-sales and, in the worst case, will have to register future sales (though I think that’s unlikely, since it’s impossible to distinguish between “investment” and “utility” liquidity).

When commenting on secondary market transactions, she will explain that they are not securities transactions per se, and emphasize that each sale must be considered individually.”

 

Daily Coin reports:

Regarding investors aware of Ripple’s involvement, including XRP Ledger developers, Deaton acknowledged their existence. However, he explained that establishing whether XRP was a security depended on specific grounds.

If Ripple directly sold XRP to an investor, fulfilling the Howey test, it could be considered a security. This entailed providing funds to Ripple, forming a common enterprise, and expecting profits from XRP based on Ripple’s talents and efforts.

Stephanie Starr and others in the XRP community clamored for an end to the incredibly drawn-out lawsuit:

“We are going on 30 weeks since final briefings. We are 4 weeks out from Brad stating we are weeks not months from Summary Judgment. Tomorrow makes it 2 weeks since Hinman Docs were released….For the love of God, can we wrap this up?!”

CNBC reports that Ripple continues to expand and gain regulatory approval in countries like Singapore—a sign that the company firmly believes they will emerge from the suit victorious:

Ripple said that it was granted in-principle approval of a Major Payment Institution Licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s central bank.

The license will allow Ripple to offer regulated digital payment token products and services and expand the cross-border transfers of XRP, a cryptocurrency the company is closely associated with, among its customers, which are banks and financial institutions.

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