Buckle up, things are getting interesting as we march into Q1 of 2021 with the war drum beating behind the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit. There are rumors, misinformation, and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) spewing over news outlets and Twitter regarding what’s happening. As expected, Ripple has been tight-lipped regarding the lawsuit, but we are getting fragments of interesting facts and events. Let’s start with the big news, Gary Gensler is the new Chairmen for the SEC. Here is a brief overview of his history:
There is some hysteria regarding some of Gensler’s comments on the subject of XRP being a security. These comments were made during a lecture Gensler was giving at MIT back in 2018. He did clearly state during that lecture that XRP appeared to be a security in his opinion. He quickly follows up by highlighting the fact that his opinion doesn’t really matter though – which is true. Gensler then finished by say:
Wether XRP is a security or not will be up to the courts, not me.
I can understand how this statement would worry many XRP holders, but a lot has changed since 2018 regarding Ripple and XRP. Also, there is a second lecture that Gensler did while at MIT where he was explaining the use case for XRP and calling it a currency, so this is also something to keep in mind. It goes to show, that while everyone is scrambling to better under crypto as a whole, opinions and ideas might evolve over time. This might apply to how Gensler thought about XRP back in 2018 compared to how he currently might think of XRP. No one knows, only time will tell. I urge you all to remain unemotional and logical.
Now, there are some other interesting nuances taking place regarding this matter. The first one is that Gensler used to be the Chair of the CFTC (Commodity Future Trading Commission) in 2009 – 2014. The CFTC has already declared that they view XRP as a currency and even fined Ripple based on currency laws for not have lawful AML (anti-money laundering) and KYC (know your customer) security measures in place.
Do you know who appointed Gensler as the Chair of the CFTC? Barack Obama.
Do you know who Barack Obama appointed to be the Chair of the SEC during Gensler’s time at the CFTC? Mary Jo White.
Do you know who is currently on Ripples legal team while they wage war with the SEC? Mary Jo White.
There is no way the Gary Gensler and Mary Jo White don’t know each other very well, they worked for the same administration.
This is not a “dot connecting” article, but I am simply trying to point out there is a massive game of 4D chess taking place. Which brings me to my last point regarding the rumor that the SEC has already dropped or settled the case with Ripple. There is no proof of that whatsoever. If you look at the available information it actually looks like things are heating up, not cooling down. A notable lawyer on Twitter had this to say:
Don’t fall for the rumors and fake information. Don’t fall for the FUD and to the maxies out there. Stay informed and stay logical. I don’t think either party will “bend the knee.” We stand to loose it all or have it all. Personally, I’m in love with those odds.
