Thanksgiving is over. Christmas has come and gone. The last remaining holiday roadblock ahead of us is New Years’ celebrations. Once that’s over, we can finally say “bye” to 2020 and hello to 2021, which I’m sure we are all excited about. For most crypto holders’ things are going great, but for XRPers, things could be better.
The SEC has always been the mythical hibernating bear of crypto. No one knew who would wake it up and how big the bear would be, until now.
With the earth-shattering news of the SEC lawsuit taking place against Ripple, there was a large price dump for XRP. Thereafter, even some exchanges started to halt XRP trading for US customers until this SEC/Ripple drama is resolved. This price decline has cost some holders significant and unacceptable losses. This lead to former SEC Chairmen, Joseph Grundfest, to publicly comment on the situation:
Simply initiating the action will impose substantial harm on innocent holders of XRP, regardless of the ultimate resolution. Upon learning of the proceeding, intermediaries will cease transacting in XRP because of the associated legal risk. The resulting reduction in liquidity will cause XRP’s value to decline.
Now, Grundfest is no longer in any position to participate in SEC business, but it’s an interesting statement from a powerful person. It goes to show that laws, or lack thereof, are being applied based on someone’s opinion – not legal precedent or facts.
In related statements, a notable FinTech lawyer Arturo Portilla has this to say on the subject:
The SEC’s allegations are trying to ascertain that, beyond speculation and Ripple’s “subsidized ODL”, there’s nothing XRP buyers can do with XRP, hence why XRP investors rely solely in the efforts of Ripple. – This is wrong in many different levels…
Portilla has also publicly stated that he thinks Ripple has a strong case against the SEC.
As per my previous article, many more heavy hitters are coming out in defense of Ripple. For me, this further proves that crypto as a whole is in desperate need of fair and balanced regulatory guidelines, regardless of how painful it might be.
Currently, there is no timeline or clue on how long this whole legal process can take, which is probably the most frustrating thing for XRP holders. To further the waters, no one is completely sure who the next presidential appointed SEC chairmen will be. Will that person be crypto friendly or also have an axe to grind? We are all going to have to take a big breath and find resolve, patience, and courage – regardless of whether to sell or hold.
For me, I hold with iron fists!
For those who are going to hold through this galactic legal battle, it might be worth moving you holding off the exchanges into deep cold storage.
