LAL #077 — Ripple, XRP, and SEC Regulation with Jimmy Vallee

<p>Jimmy Vallee joins Norm and Mike for a Sunday Special long form. </p> <p>Jimmy Vallee is a member of Law and Legitimacy alumni at this point, having appeared several times before today's session. </p> <p>Public radio does not afford the sort of patience that something like digital asset regulation merits for proper examination. So that's what we've aimed here to remedy. </p> <p>Jimmy Vallee is the managing principal of Valhill Capital, a Texas-based family investment firm with an investment thesis centered around blockchain and cryptocurrency innovation. Specifically, Valhill Capital views the blockchain technology Ripple and the digital currency XRP as the key drivers that will enable blockchain and cryptocurrency to deliver on its promise to unlock economic opportunity all over the world. </p> <p>The problem? The Securities and Exchange Commission initiated a lawsuit against Ripple Labs in December 2020 alleging that Ripple's digital currency, XRP, is an unregistered security in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act. </p> <p>It gets complicated, which is why Norm and Jimmy begin the conversation with the context of society's increasing digitization, from base level information digitization (e.g., Uber) to value digitization as seen through the emergence of blockchains and cryptocurrencies. </p> <p>The Ripple/XRP case is unique in that it stands as a beacon to justify at least the perceptible corruption and hypocrisy that has come to define our country's current crisis of legitimacy. </p> <p>Norm and Jimmy unpack the comparison between Etherium's treatment as a commodity—outwardly ratified by the SEC—and the interesting public sector-private sector overlap between key individual players in the Etherium rise to apparent regulatory capture. </p> <p>Jimmy also discusses a unique legal feature in the SEC v. Ripple case: attorney John Deaton's attempt to intervene as and additional defendant (!) on behalf of a class of XRP holders. </p> <p>What is the deliberative process privilege? Is a congressional heari