As the court case between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission takes place, former SEC head Mary Jo White has sided with the payments start-up.
White, who acted as the З1st chair of the SEC from 201З to 2017, stated she does not consider the SEC’s claim aimed at Ripple to be justified:
“There is no way to justify this. They are completely wrong, legally and factually.”
The timing of the opening of the lawsuit further struck White as suspicious, as the case was put forward when many senior SEC officials, as well as former chairman Jay Clayton, were departing office, with the charges pointing back to 2012.
“As a former US attorney and chairman of the SEC, I can confidently tell you that understanding how long it takes to end a case like this, one should probably not start it. I would not have started this procedure.”
The former SEC head highlighted that the lack of regulatory precision regarding the crypto sector further weakens the validity of the SEC’s case against Ripple. This suggests the claims are subjective, particularly considering the recent argument that Ethereum, a crypto asset established in 2015, does not represent a security.
In conclusion, according to the specialist, the main casualties of the lawsuit were the investors, although it is exactly their interests that the SEC is created to protect. In her opinion, the crypto industry is emergency need of regulatory clarity and must be one of the leading priorities of the federal agency.
Just recently it became clear that the regulatory commission and the corporation have failed to reach an agreement on pre-trial settlement, meaning the end of the result of the case will have to be determined by the court.
