All Altcoins Committing Security Fraud: Michal Saylor

Both Ethereum & Ripple Are Engaging in Fraudulent Activity Regarding Securities, asserted Michael Saylor.

Michael Saylor, famously known as a Bitcoin bull, is notoriously uninterested in alternative cryptocurrencies such as Ripple (XRP) and Ethereum (ETH). Saylor expressed her opinion on whether or not those cryptocurrencies should be considered securities during her most recent appearance on a podcast.

Saylor explained (1) that he considered Ripple unregistered security in connection to the ongoing legal struggle between Ripple Labs and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Chief Executive Officer of MicroStrategy stated,

"It's quite evident. It's a corporation. The firm owns the majority of it. They don't make their business available to investors by going public; instead, they sell it to the general public. There is not a single disclosure."

Why Ethereum and Ripple Should be Considered as a Securities?

He also held the same view towards Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency measured by market cap. Saylor asserts that Ethereum Classic (ETH) is an unregistered security since

"it's owned by a few people - the Ethereum Foundation and ConsenSys... Just like FTT, just like Solana."

The Chief Executive Officer of MicroStrategy went on to expand, stating that virtually all alternative cryptocurrencies are securities and hence should be subject to enforcement by the SEC:

Bitcoin is an honest commodity, but all alternative cryptocurrencies are equity tokens created by companies to avoid going public. Saylor asserted, "And they are engaging in securities fraud."

"And in particular, Ethereum." The Bitcoin bull brought up that Ethereum now has $20 billion worth of its ETH tokens locked up in a deposit contract, and it is currently unknown when users can withdraw their funds from the contract.

Although the deadline has been pushed back multiple times, it is still not feasible to withdraw funds from the ETH 2.0 deposit contract.

At this time, redemptions are planned to take place in the Shanghai update, which is anticipated to be the first major update released after the integration. The fork is expected to take place in March of 2023 at this time.

Saylor questioned the fact that there is a tiny group of people who decide whether or not cash withdrawals from of the deposit contract would be authorized and at what time they will be allowed. This was in connection to the previous point.

Now, isn’t that the definition of an investment contract? If a bank took $20 billion of your assets, froze the window and said ‘You can’t have your money back, ever, maybe in the year 2024. We are not sure.[…] We may give you interest on it.’ That’s the definition of a security.

Suppose a crypto property is intended to be a commodity. In that case, you can't rely on just a few programmers, a company, or the CEO, according to the generalization made by the chief executive officer of MicroStrategy. In conclusion, he said:

It involves putting money into a business that a group of people runs intending to profit from those other people's work. It cannot be considered a commodity if a person can exercise control over it.

Within its ongoing case (2) with the SEC, Ripple is attempting to challenge the application of that concept to XRP. Ripple has several strong arguments on its side, including the fair notice warning and the common enterprise argument. Both of these are among the most promising.