SEC Fight Over XRP Tokens Turns to Ripple Legal Memos From 2012
- Court unseals a slew of documents in SEC suit against company
- The regulator argues XRP is a security; Ripple disagrees
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A pair of legal memos Ripple Labs Inc. received a decade ago about XRP tokens are fresh fodder for federal regulators in their fight with the company over whether the digital asset is a security that needs to be registered.
Court filings unsealed Friday show that in a February 2012 memo, Perkins Coie LLP attorneys advised Ripple not to sell the proposed coins, as various conditions could subject them to being regulated as securities or commodities. A second memo by the same firm, dated in October of that year, suggested that XRP may not be considered to be a security under federal law, but cautioned there was a risk the Securities and Exchange Commission would see things differently.