For many people the SEC taking Ripple to court over XRP is nothing more than a big bad regulator taking a pop at crypto because it is trying to get into the playground. However there are several reasons this is happening and the historical one has origins before BTC was a twinkle in Satoshi's eye.

These reasons are well known in the financial sector because they were a pretty big deal at the time  ...... to the point where people were going red from holding their breath too long and wetting their panties. While you might not have known this it should come as no big surprize as power and money always seems to attract wankers. Some we vote for and some we don't.

In 2003 SWIFT were ordered by the US GOVERNMENT under pressure from the Pentagon to close down international banking with regard to Iraq. SWIFT refused. The US then threatened SWIFT and SWIFT gave the US the finger moving the US servers to Switzerland. The US wet itself. The US tried again in the late 00s during the Russia/Ukraine conflict this time bringing in the help of The EU. SWIFT then threatened to relocate from its head office in Belgium. The EU and US backed down.

Since that time the US has tried to look for an alternative to SWIFT with the Pentagon constantly applying pressure. Russia is trying to do the same.

Ripple, is based in SF and was thought to be that alternative. However it has had difficulty gaining credibility as it is thought to be a pawn of the US (you'll notice that no Russian bank is signed up with them). SWIFT is actually a co-op owned by the banks themselves so they maintain full control outside any government. In addition SWIFT is now on a private blockchain developed by R3.

I quite like the fact that SWIFT is/was truly independent and told various governments to fuck off and adding to the fact that it is a co-op it makes me want to support SWIFT over Ripple which 100% American (ie not an non-national world thing) ......however when Russia invaded The Ukraine SWIFT shut down all international transactions with the country. While I don't support the invasion I don't support cutting money operations either as it messes up the impartiality and trust that is required for the future. No one wants to take part in a game with rigged referees.

The dilemma is - how to appear to not be the US Government's bitch while actually being the US Government's bitch - cue this court case.

So what will happen? As this is a credibility building exercise it will be a BIG fine (has to be big enough to be punitive) but that's it.......Otherwise the Pentagon will have a hissy fit as they have to keep looking.

Have alcohol, drugs, old age, etc started to rot your brain to the point where you wonder how long it will be before the dibbling starts? Why not learn another language for free and make some new neural connections enabling you to party coherently for a few years more - Try Duolingo - seems crap at first with all the repetitions and lack of explanations but does eventually start to sink in.

This isn't a crypto thing btw.

Get an easy to remember name to send ALL your crypto to. You'll get $10 credit with the link.