“The SEC is going to have to admit that there was nothing in Ripple’s contracts” – XRP Proponent Avers

Key takeaways

• Ben Armstrong (BitBoy) asserts that the SEC is likely to settle with Ripple soon.
• For many, including Armstrong, the hope remains that summary judgement will however be reached instead.
• Despite troubles in the US, Ripple continues to forge global partnerships.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in their lawsuit against Ripple will have a hard time proving to the court that Ripple sold their XRP tokens to investors as an investment contract according to crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong aka “BitBoy.” This is because no such contracts exist, noted Armstrong.

This is why the popular crypto influencer expects the case will be resolved soon in Ripple’s favor. His argument is linked to the recent court ruling in which Judge Sarah Netburn ordered the SEC to explain how the Howey Test applies to XRP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, and the sale of XRP as an investment contract.

Much of the case has been hinged on the point that Ripple and XRP holders were in a common enterprise for gain. The SEC has argued that Ripple marketed XRP to investors in such a way that led the investors to believe Ripple would work to make the token profitable.

However, with the recent ruling, the XRP proponent thinks that the SEC is going to be forced to admit that “there is nothing in any of these contracts that created an expectation of profits by purchasers of XRP.”

This is one of the reasons that BitBoy has asserted that the SEC is probably still fighting just to save face. He also thinks it is possible that a settlement will soon be reached by both parties. However, this is not the outcome he hopes for. For BitBoy and many members of the XRP community, the expectation is that the SEC “fails and fails badly.” This is because they feel that the case concluding in a settlement will only weaponize the SEC against another victim in the industry. 

Another notable XRP supporter who has shared the same sentiment has been attorney John Deaton, leader of XRP Army’s lawsuit against the SEC. In a recent interview on Paul Baron Network, the attorney claimed that if the case reached summary judgment and the ruling was that XRP is not a security and the SEC failed to give fair notice to Ripple, the outcome would be that the commission would lose jurisdictional power over much of the crypto industry.

If however, the case ended in a settlement, the SEC “can still go after other cryptos,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ripple continues to build partnerships that may very well sweeten it in the long term. In the past few weeks, they have announced significant partnerships that will see them deliver On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) to major banks in the Middle East and Africa. They also reached a partnership with the Digital Pound Foundation, an independent forum, to work on the development of a CBDC for the UK.

This is why BitBoy opined that Ripple was looking at the big picture and was aiming to become the globally recognized settlement layer within the legacy financial system.