According to a leaked email by the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), which has claimed jurisdiction over XRP, there is no regulation against holding or trading cryptocurrency.
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No rule against Bitcoin, ETH, or XRP insider trading at SEC leaked email reveals
“Our Ethics Office has a ‘Prohibited Holdings’ list about securities that fall within 5 C.F.R. 4401.102(c)(1). BTC, ETH, and XRP have never appeared on this list,” the email stated.
This admission comes as the SEC is embroiled in a significant lawsuit against Ripple after the agency accused XRP of being unregistered security. The revelation was made in the context of whether SEC should disclose internal deliberations over crypto security classifications in particular as it pertains to XRP and bitcoin and ETH with Judge Netburn to hold an in-camera review on whether they should be disclosed.
“They want conversations with other parties and notes. Disclosing these would undermine our ability to gather information. The professor is on the payroll. There’s a Senator,” SEC’s attorney Jorge Tenreiro said in court as transcribed by specialist court reporters.
The senator was not named, and it was not clear why the SEC would hold such discussions with a member of the legislature in Congress. It is also unclear who else they spoke to or leaked information regarding their upcoming decisions, which have sometimes had a significant impact on the market.
Now, the SEC only admits that it has no rules regarding trading assets whose own decisions have a significant effect on the market. Something that can be justified by a period involves Bitcoin and ETH since they have not classified them as securities.
But when it comes to Ripple, their policy suggests that XRP is not a security. They have not specified it in their rules against holding securities despite launching a court case that claims XRP is a security.
This would make disclosing internal considerations more than in the public interest as the SEC may have a conflict of interest in their decision-making, affecting market prices to their tradable benefit.
Read more:
- After The SEC Clarifying Howey Test As Requested By Ripple, Can The Lawsuit Soon End?
- Ripple Asks SEC To Clarify How Howey Test Applies To Transactions In XRP Over The Last 8 Years