Ripple buries SEC in paperwork in XRP lawsuit: Nearly 30,000 requests

The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking a protective order relieving the SEC of any obligation to respond to 29,947 requests for admission by the Defendants during the final six hours of fact discovery, on August 31.

The Plaintiff argues these requests impose an extreme, disproportionate, and unnecessary burden on the agency. The agency also reminded the Judge that Courts routinely disallow much less burdensome and excessive requests on the grounds that they are “abusive, unreasonable, and oppressive”.

The SEC also informed the Court that it spent more than 100 hours responding to 254 requests. At that rate, the Plaintiff would need over 473 days to complete the task.

Attorney Jeremy Hogan commented on the SEC’s request for a protective order: “30k Requests for Admissions is an astonishing number (I serve around 25-30).

“But keep in mind that it was the SEC who decided to wait 7 years before filing the lawsuit and decided that it would argue that all continuing sales of XRP are securities. This lawsuit covers 9 years!”

While the SEC awaits a ruling on this matter, the plaintiff must be struggling with the most recent attack from Ripple’s counsel days after discovering a document that may prove that the SEC provided guidance based on Hinman’s 2018 speech – which could reveal the SEC lied when stating the speech was only a personal opinion, not policy.

Ripple is now pushing the SEC up against the wall by arguing that no Deliberative Process Privilege (DPP) exists because the SEC has never deliberated about policy regarding digital assets. Only personal opinions from officials.

Ripple’s attorneys are placing the SEC between two options:
– Its officials’ views on digital assets – including Hinman’s speech – are only personal opinions, which means there is no Deliberative Process Privilege case to be made;
– Its officials’ views were policy, there is a DPP case to be made, but Hinman’s speech and other officials’ views can be used as evidence against the SEC in the lawsuit.

Outside the Court, Ripple has provided feedback to Senator Toomey as the U.S. Senate prepares to review blockchain and crypto laws. In sum, the XRP proposes a regulatory framework that encourages innovation sandboxes for crypto, and increases public-private collaboration.

Ripple also suggested the Senate to consider existing legislative efforts, particularly the Securities Clarity Act (SCA) and the Digital Commodity Exchange Act (DCEA).

Senator Toomey has recently tweeted that “China’s authoritarian crackdown on crypto, including Bitcoin, is a big opportunity for the U.S. It’s also a reminder of our huge structural advantage over China.

“Beijing is so hostile to economic freedom they cannot even tolerate their people participating in what is arguably the most exciting innovation in finance in decades. Economic liberty leads to faster growth, and ultimately, a higher standard of living for all.”