#StripeStablecoinAccounts - The fate of XRP may have been decided behind closed doors.

Here’s why. Internal documents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have revealed key discussions about XRP that were never made public. These details, published after Coinbase filed a FOIA request, point to initial concerns about Ripple's influence on the value and functionality of XRP.

In 2021, SEC staff questioned whether the XRP Ledger could continue to operate smoothly without Ripple's involvement. This question is crucial according to the Howey Test, which helps the SEC decide whether an asset should be regulated as a security.

If the success of a token depends on a central entity, like Ripple, the SEC considers it a stronger argument for security classification. This point became the center of the agency's internal analysis, suggesting they were building a case discreetly long before it reached the courts.

The SEC and New York officials pushed for private strategies for cryptocurrencies

The same document release reveals that Ethereum also participated in private regulatory discussions. In June 2023, Shamiso Maswoswe from the New York Attorney General's office contacted the SEC and requested that they file a legal brief supporting the claim that ETH should be regulated as a security.

This added to the lawsuit filed by New York against KuCoin, but its aim was to influence national cryptocurrency laws. While the SEC did not risk defending ETH or issuing a clear opinion on the matter, these discussions demonstrate organized attempts to define its future.

XRP remained the focus of the SEC's investigations. Some emails raised concerns about Ripple's ongoing control and influence over the XRP ecosystem. SEC staff pointed to this as one of the key reasons behind their continued legal harassment of XRP.