Ripple, a U.S. crypto exchange and remittance network company, has filed a motion to compel the Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose information about SEC employees’ crypto holdings.
According to Ripple attorney James K. Filan, the company requests SEC to provide documents about the employees’ transactions on cryptos such as XRP, Bitcoin, and Ether. Filan added that Ripple also wants certifications concerning SEC employees’ XRP holdings.
SEC denied the crypto exchange’s previous request for documentation.
The SEC complied
Just this June, the court granted Ripple’s motion to compel the SEC to produce detailed information about its policies regarding its crypto assets.
The SEC has compiled and submitted a document dated January 19, 2018, titled: “Ethics Guidance Regarding Digital Assets.” The SEC said that until that date, the Commission didn’t recognize digital assets as securities and added that its employees were free to buy, sell, and hold XRP without any prohibitions from the SEC.
“[The] regulations against its employees engaging in securities transactions without preclearance indicate that the SEC had not concluded, prior to at least January 2018, that sales and offers of XRP were securities transactions,” Ripple said.
Prohibited holdings
The SEC has maintained a list which it calls “Prohibited Listing” which is a list of assets that are included in the Commission’s trading ban. Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP weren’t included in the list.
This list is subject to case-by-case reviews rather than a total ban. The SEC only added XRP after April 13, 2018. In other words, any SEC employee transaction in XRP after April 13, 2018, was evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
And the crypto exchange company claims that SEC refuses to provide this information that is why it is seeking the court’s help to compel SEC to submit its requested documents.
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