The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is facing a crypto uprising. Such is the nature of the uprising it is fair to say that the agency never expected it. The agency filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs in December 2020 on the grounds of illegal trading, but Ripple’s legal team has pushed the SEC on a trial for years of conflict and confusing guidelines on the rules for crypto assets.
Recently, the crypto innovator has filed for a motion, compelling the SEC to disclose its internal crypto trading policies as a part of the long-lasting legal battle between the crypto retail firm, and the securities regulator.
The motion was filed on Friday on the behalf of numerous defendants, including the CEO of Ripple and Ripple Labs Brad Garlinghouse, and the executive chairman Chris Larsen. According to the reports, the motion filed against the SEC asks the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York City to compel the regulatory agency to disclose its trading policies for governing digital assets.
The defendants claimed that their previous attempts to obtain information from the SEC had failed thus far. The motion filed noted that Ripple had met and conferred with the SEC on their legal battle on July 8, July 18, August 18, and August 25, yet no progress was ever made.
The purpose of the motion is to compel the securities regulator to disclose anonymous documents that reflect trading pre-clearance decisions not only for XRP, but other crypto assets as well including Bitcoin, and Ethereum. The defendants seek certifications regarding the XRP holdings of the SEC’s employees either in aggregate form or with redacted personal information of employees, the motion dictates.
Attorney James Filan, who had been following the SEC’s case against Ripple, had revealed a motion document that ought to bring whether the SEC was permitting its own employees to trade XRP. The SEC’s own regulations classify XRP as an unregistered security.
Filan added that the SEC has until September 3 to respond to the legal team’s motion by the court. The attorney stated that the court order was text-only, which meant no separate written order was filed.
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn of the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York has scheduled an online meeting on August 31 as a part of the case to compel the SEC in producing documents that are relevant to ripple’s fair notice defence.
