Key Takeaways
- Judge Netburn has ordered the SEC to provide all official documents that express the agency’s views on Bitcoin and Ether.
- The documents will consist of memos, transcripts, and communications that discuss Bitcoin and Ether’s security status.
- These documents are legally referred to as “discovery documents” and may help Ripple’s defense against the SEC.
The judge presiding over the SEC’s case against Ripple has ordered the regulator to share documents. Those documents will reveal the SEC’s stance on which cryptocurrencies are considered securities.
Ripple Gains Access to SEC Docs
In December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a legal complaint alleging that Ripple and its executives raised over $1.3 billion by selling XRP as unregistered securities.
In an update to the ongoing lawsuit, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ruled that the SEC must share all official documents that express the regulator’s views on why other digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are not securities.
These documents are legally referred to as “discovery documents” and may help Ripple strengthen its defense against the SEC’s allegations. According to the judge, these documents will consist of memos, transcripts, and other third party communications that discuss Bitcoin and Ether’s security status.
Documents Could Support Defense
According to legal experts, the latest court ruling on discovery documents may have tilted the case in favor of Ripple’s defense.
Jeremy Hogan, Attorney at HoganLegal, reasoned that access to SEC documents will benefit Ripple’s “fair notice” defense. This particular defense argues that the SEC failed to notify Ripple that its actions violated the law before it took legal action.
In other words, the documents may be used to argue that the SEC itself was unsure about the legal status of XRP for several years and did not believe Ripple willfully considered XRP as a security.
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this author held Cosmos.
