A partial historical review of @SEC_News 🆚 @Ripple:

The SEC waited 8 years to bring a case against @Ripple allowing individual investors to buy #XRP on over 200 exchanges worldwide.

In 2015 the DOJ and #FinCEN declare #XRP a convertible virtual currency.
In 2017 when the SEC aggressively sued companies in the digital asset space violating securities laws, it left Ripple and #XRP alone.

In 2018, the SEC allowed Ripple to purchase a 9% stake in @MoneyGram fulling knowing #XRP would be transferred to MG who would in turn
immediately sell it in the secondary market on exchanges like @coinbase to individual investors with no connection to or even knowledge of the company Ripple.

After more than a 2 year investigation into Ripple and it’s executives, the SEC could not find one instance of fraud or
misrepresentation.

In 2018, Hinman gratuitously declared #ETH not a security while collecting over $15 million from his law firm - a member of the #Ethereum Alliance.

In October 2020 (two months before Clayton leaves the SEC) , #OneRiver invests $1 billion into #BTC and #ETH.
Two weeks before filing the case, former SEC commissioner Grundfest, warned Clayton not to file because there was no exigency and investors would lose billions. Grundfest informed Clayton that the SEC had made no material distinction between #ETH and #XRP and if he filed the case
it would call into question the SEC’s motive and discretion.

Despite this grave warning and a new administration coming into power in less than 30 days, Clayton directed a suit against Ripple and #XRP on his last full day at the SEC.

Less than 3 months later, Clayton accepts
a job with One River as an advisor on its #BTC and #ETH investments.

For the first time in history, and directly against precedent such as the #Telegram case, the SEC claims the digital token #XRP itself is a
security.

The lawsuit causes 15 billion in losses to #XRP holders.
Despite claiming that the executives at Ripple enriched themselves selling unregistered securities to the present day, the SEC allows the co-founder, Jed McCaleb, to sell billions of #XRP before and after the lawsuit was filed against Ripple.

The SEC has yet to produce Court
ordered relevant discovery related to #BTC #ETH and #XRP.

Judge Netburn has ruled the discovery is both relevant and necessary not just related to the Fair Notice Defense, but also for the Court’s analysis of the Howey factors relevant to #XRP.

The SEC objects to #XRPHolders
being heard in the lawsuit even though it claims it brought the lawsuit on
behalf of those investors.

Instead of addressing the arguments made regarding the independent Utility of #XRP, the SEC attacked the lawyer representing #XRPHolders, claiming he is biased & unfair to SEC
After losing several discovery disputes, the SEC warns the Court that if it loses the case it will cause irreparable damage to the SEC related to future enforcement actions in the cryptocurrency space and the Court should consider such consequences before ruling.

I won’t make
any editorial comments; our motion to intervene is pending.

For the record, all I’ve done here is provide a true and accurate review of some of the factual history thus far.

I’m not being biased or unfair.

History speaks for itself and you can make your own conclusions.

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More from @JohnEDeaton1

8 Jun
AND WHAT IS THE LAW:

“Cryptocurrencies (sometimes called tokens or digital assets) are a lawful means of storing or transferring value and may fluctuate in value as any commodity would. In the abstract, an investment of money in a cryptocurrency utilized by members of a
decentralized community connected via blockchain technology, which itself is administered by this community of users rather than by a common enterprise, is not likely to be deemed a security under the familiar test laid out in S.E.C. v. W.J. Howey Co.”

-Judge Castel (Telegram-1)
Judge Castel also made clear:

“the security in this case is not simply the Gram, which is little more than alphanumeric cryptographic sequence. Howey refers to an investment contract, i.e. a security, as ‘a contract, transaction or scheme’,”

- J. Castel (quoting Howey)
Read 6 tweets
5 May
#XRPHolders:

I have more than a few DMs from people asking whether it’s possible that if we are successful in a motion to intervene and then lose the underlying case if sanctions would be ordered against #XRPHolders.

First, there are currently 6 named proposed intervenors.
I have alleged, along with those 6 named intervenors “and all others similarly situated.”

The 17,000sh people that have signed up to join are not officially in the case. The 6 named intervenors are not yet in the case for that matter. I have informed the Court that I represent a
putative class of 12k plus (it has grown since then). If we win the motion to intervene then that doesn’t mean everyone that signed up is a defendant in the case. In order to be a defendant in the case the judge would have to certify a class (ie “class action”). Before she did
Read 9 tweets
11 Apr
#XRP AND #EXCHANGES

I hope to be proven wrong but as I’ve said before I do not believe that @coinbase @krakenfx @binance etc. are going to re-list or un-suspend #XRP until the @SEC_Enforcement comes out and issues a no-action declaration or we get clarity from the SDNY Court.
Let me explain how the SEC Attorney misled the Court when answering Judge Netburn’s question regarding whether anyone selling #XRP would be violating Section 5 of the Securities Act.

This will also help me prepare for our brief (due in 8 days). 😥😫

Attorney Tenreiro said that
Section 4 exemptions would apply and therefore retail holders would not be in violation. Not true. If the purpose and intent is to have #XRP distributed by purchasers into a secondary market no exemption applies under Section 4, as Tenreiro suggested to Magistrate Netburn.
Read 9 tweets
9 Apr
#XRPHolders 🆚 @SEC_News Thread:

@HesterPeirce was interviewed by @ThinkingCrypto1 and said that she was trying to get people at the @SEC_News to stop thinking about the token as a security but instead on how the token was being packaged and sold.
I tweeted out, in disbelief, saying “that’s only been the law for 75 years.”

The Supreme Court in #Howey didn’t conclude that the oranges 🍊 were Securities, but it was the “scheme” and the totality of circumstances surrounding the transactions between the parties that was held
to be an investment contract. But it’s not just the #Howey case that has made it crystal clear that the token itself IS NOT a security.

#BTC, #ETH, #XRP, #Gold, #Soybeans, #copper, #coffee and any other product or commodity can be marketed, packaged, sold and distributed
Read 18 tweets
4 Apr
“Clayton’s family gets millions of dollars in annual dividends from WMB Holding”

His family got $4 million per year in dividends. To receive that much 💰 in dividends is equivalent to owning a $200 million in stocks that pay 2% in dividends.

wallstreetonparade.com/2018/01/wall-s…
Clayton’s wife is Gretchen Butler Clayton. The B in WMB stands for Butler. WMB owns CSC. Clayton’s father-in-law is Daniel Butler, who served as CSC’s CEO from 1975-1998. WMB and CSC share the same address.

Multiple other units of Goldman Sachs are using the same address.
Clayton’s wife was a V.P. at Goldman Sachs for 17 years when Clayton became SEC Chairman.

“There are thousands of businesses using CSC as their registered agent and using CSC’s address as their legal address.”
Read 5 tweets
4 Apr
Does China 🇨🇳 and/or Alipay have any interest related to Ripple or #XRP?

Asking for a friend.

Previously, I tweeted about Clayton and Hinman being on the SEC application for Alibaba’s IPO.

Let’s look into another Lawyer who appears on that @SEC filing document:

Leiming Chen
Leiming Chen, like Hinman, was a partner at Simpson Thacher.

Leiming Chen served in the firm’s Hong Kong office, focusing on SEC-registered offerings.

A client of Simpson Thacher is Neil Shen.

Neil Shen is founding and managing partner of Sequoia China. Image
Neil Shen put forth at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference the recommendation that Hong Kong create its own stable coin, which can be used for cross-border payments between China, Japan and South Korea.

theblockcrypto.com/linked/66066/s…
Read 4 tweets

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