Hotter, Ripple Officials Condemn The SEC Due To Crypto Case Manipulation

CLO Ripple condemned SEC action. (Photo; Doc. Teacher Watcher)

JAKARTA - The legal crisis involving Ripple is heating up again after Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer, sent criticism of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a recent post on X, Alderoty criticized the SEC for using the term crypto asset security, which he said had no legal basis. This statement sparked further tension in disputes involving crypto companies, particularly related to the FTX case, as reported by Coingape.

Previously, the SEC had fought FTX, a Bahamas-based crypto exchange and experienced a major collapse in 2022 following the misuse of customer funds. Currently, FTX is trying to return funds to creditors through a new restructuring plan worth up to 16.3 billion US dollars (Rp261.6 trillion), involving the use of cash and stablecoins.

Stablecoin, which is a 1:1-setted crypto asset with fiat currencies like the US dollar, is one of the dispute points. The SEC argues that they still have the right to "tighten transactions involving crypto assets" and is trying to test the legality of stablecoins according to applicable securities laws. The SEC states that the FTX portfolio includes "crypto asset security" which is now planned for monetization to pay creditors.

Alderoty considered that the terms used by the SEC were made that did not have a clear legal basis, even claiming that the term was an attempt to deceive the judge. He asked the SEC to stop using the term, calling it a form of manipulation in the legal process.

More than that, the SEC has imposed a fine of $125 million against Ripple in ongoing legal cases. Apart from Ripple, FTX is now the SEC's new focus. The trend of taking action against crypto exchanges also includes Robinhood, Kraken, ConsenSys, Uniswap, and Coinbase who have been hit by previous SEC raids.

In recent developments, the OpenSea NFT trading platform received Wells Notice from the SEC last week, signaling a possible further legal action. The SEC considers the digital collection traded on the NFT market as a securities. Uniswap has also received Wells Notice from regulators a few months ago.

The crypto industry currently hopes for a positive change in regulations with the arrival of the new government in November and the possibility of replacing Gary Gensler from the SEC chairman position.