Ripple Files Initial Response to SEC's Complaint

The company that is behind XRP, Ripple, has recently filed its preliminary legal response to the SEC's complaint, which was filed against the firm at the end of December.

Called "The Answer", the response is seen as Ripple's official answer to the allegations in the SEC's complaint. The response focused on refuting four claims what the company calls "unproven allegations".

Firstly, the company stressed that the limited distributions of XRP were not an investment contract because the virtual currency is outside the SEC's jurisdiction and it has never entered a contract for an investment with any holders of XRP.

Furthermore, the Ripple team says that US regulators (the Department of Justice and FinCEN) determined that XRP is a virtual currency, as well as other jurisdictions like the UK, Japan, Switzerland and Singapore. However, the SEC is asking the Court to contradict the findings of the agency's peers in the US and worldwide.

In addition, Ripple states that there is no principled distinction between XRP's function and that of Bitcoin and Ethereum. But, while the SEC recognized the two most popular digital currencies as non-securities, the agency turned around and said the opposite was true for its own token.

Finally, the company blasted the SEC's lawsuit in general, saying that it was full of cherry-picked quotes, taken out of context, and affected innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to Ripple.