Top XRP enthusiast discusses the impact of the SEC v. Ripple ruling on the crypto industry, as Bitwise leverages the verdict to gain approval for its Bitcoin spot ETF proposal.
Over a week ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlit multiple Bitcoin spot ETFs for trading in the United States. Fidelity Investments, BlackRock, ARK 21Shares, Valkyrie, Grayscale, and Bitwise were among the asset managers whose Bitcoin fund applications received approval.
Despite the SEC’s approval of all Bitcoin spot ETFs, a prominent XRP community member known as “WrathofKahneman (@WKahneman)” recently highlighted Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF prospectus. Bitwise’s prospectus referenced the SEC v. Ripple ruling as a factor in its effort to secure approval for the Bitcoin ETF.
Specifically, Bitwise pointed out in its prospectus that the regulatory and enforcement scrutiny of digital assets has intensified, citing the summary judgment in the SEC vs. Ripple case as evidence of this heightened scrutiny. The company noted that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York deemed Ripple’s XRP sales to sophisticated institutional clients as securities transactions but found that offers and sales of XRP on digital exchanges, as well as distribution to employees and third-party developers, were not securities.
In light of these developments, WrathofKahneman stressed the significance of the Ripple’s summary judgment for the entire crypto industry. Legal experts forecast that the Ripple ruling could have a substantial impact on decisions related to other crypto matters. For instance, TerraForm Labs and Coinbase have already referenced the Ripple ruling in arguments asserting that crypto assets themselves do not constitute securities. While Terra lost its argument in court, the judge in the Coinbase legal dispute has yet to issue a decision on the matter. Notably, unlike Terra and Coinbase, Bitwise did not cite the Ripple ruling in a lawsuit but rather as part of its effort to secure approval for its Bitcoin spot ETF proposal.
It is worth noting that Bitwise was among the asset managers that recently obtained approval from the SEC to launch Bitcoin spot ETFs. This development underscores the evolving regulatory landscape in the crypto and NFT field.
