Ripple labs recently won their case against the Security and Exchange Commission, this landmark case will set a precedent of the rest of the industry. The software company headquartered in San Francisco can be loosely known as the custodians of the XRP ledger. They’ve been embroiled in litigation since December 2020, just prior to the large growth in the crypto market which saw Bitcoin rise to the level of $68,000 USD..
This was a landmark case as most crypto companies that SEC targets usually fall apart after expensive and time consuming litigation with the financial regulators. This legal case has cost the company over 100 million dollars, a cost that most crypto currency companies can’t afford.
At the center of the lawsuit was the SEC’s assertion that Ripple sales of XRP to the public violated security laws. A security is defined as selling of an investment contract where there is a reasonable expectation of profit by a controlling party. This correlates to a lingering debate amongst crypto enthusiasts, whether XRP is a centralized banker coin or not. Afterall, XRP works in conjunction with the banking industry, it’s developing CBDC systems for governments and it’s part of the World Economic Forum. Seems like an airtight case until you look a little closer. The XRP ledger comprises 169 nodes, only two of them are operated by Ripple, one other is run by the SEC and the remaining ones are spread around the world. A couple are in satellites in orbit around the planet and there is even one located in an abandoned Cold War era underground missile silo.
XRP is already known as a currency all around the world and is being used by hundreds of financial institutions. It is poised to dethrone the antiquated SWIFT payment system that’s been operating since 1977 and is already being eyed up by Saudi Arabia and other member nations of the BRICS Alliance. In my opinion, I believe XRP is perfectly situated to become the currency most used by BRICS for international settlements. The BRICS have been gathering member nations for some time but their plan for the rollout of their own currency seems to be dragging along. A gold backed crypto has often been cited as the currency they’ll use, but a gold backed crypto currency would effectively require it to be a Central Bank Digital Currency, given that many member countries don’t actually like each other as they are only unified as adversaries of the USA. A cryptocurrency backed by gold would require the storing, management and consistent auditing of gold which immediately brings up concerns over logistics and who would oversee it. XRP doesn’t have this problem as it’s a decentralized, permissionless system with liquidity that has been built up since 2010 when XRP was known as Open Coin. It’d be an insurmountable challenge to dethrone the long established PetroDollar & navigate the international exchange market that transacts 7 trillion dollars a day with a brand new currency regardless of desirable features, liquidity takes time to build.
This case amongst many other crypto companies has revealed many shady aspects to the Security and Exchange Commission, from this frivolous case against Ripple, to the close relations to Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX which their policies often directly benefit communist China to their stifling of innovation in the US. I believe in the future much of this will become common knowledge and hopefully it will fuel the demise of this regulatory body of the government. The corruption of the SEC is merely the symptom of a decaying Empire. The future is decentralized and permissionless.
Jul 18, 2023 Article Updated August 8, 2023
