XRP Commodity Label: Why Ripple Says a Future SEC Could Withdraw It

So, before proceeding further, let me also emphasize one important point. Only Congress can ensure that regulation in this area is future-proofed through comprehensive market structure legislation. I strongly support the ongoing bipartisan efforts on Capitol Hill to establish a durable framework

So, that was the man who runs the SEC and he said himself, didn't he? Only Congress can make this future-proofed. Hold that thought because on the 20th of October, the door shut on the comments for the SEC's crypto rule and the companies behind three of our coins spent the deadline asking for one thing in writing. Back in March, XRP, Chainlink, and Stellar went on a list of 16 coins the regulators called digital commodities and a lot of holders called it job done. So, why did Chainlink Labs and the Stellar Foundation ask the SEC to write it into the rule?

And why did Ripple's own lawyers put it in writing that a future SEC could pull it? Stick with me because I'll show you that line, what happened, and the last time the SEC changed its mind on XRP, and a 10-second check on your phone. If you've held XRP, Chainlink, or Stellar through the lawsuits and the headlines, waiting for Washington to say it's fine, I know how that feels. And there's a link in the description, the first one. It's changed how a lot of people handle the big calls on coins like these and I'll tell you why before we're 5 minutes in.

If you're holding a proper bag of any of these, this isn't just a bit of Washington paperwork. It comes down to one question. If the people in charge change their minds about your coin, who gets to decide what happens to it? Because last time, it wasn't the holders. By the end of this, I'll show you where that decision actually sits and the three decisions it forces on anyone holding a proper bag.

So, listen. Here's what actually happened. On the 17th of March, the SEC and the CFTC put out what's called an interpretation. It's basically the regulator saying, "This is how we read the law at the moment." It's not a new law and it's not even a rule. It's their view.

Here's how the chairman put it on the day.

So, today I'm pleased to announce that the SEC's persistent failure to provide clarity on this question is over.

The SEC's failure to provide clarity is over. That's the SEC on how it sees things now. Hold on to that word, now. Even Atkins called it a bridge while the Congress works on a proper law. Then in August, the SEC proposed an actual rule, which is a different animal because a rule needs a proper process before anyone can change it.

Bitwise, who run a Chainlink ETF, had to spell it out to their own investors. The proposed rule, in their words, builds on the March list but would not codify. In plain English, the commodity label isn't the rule. They even wrote that in March release doesn't have to force a law. And to me, that's mad because half of crypto X has been telling us it's settled since March.

For me, the label's real, but it's still only a view. Finding that bit is a laugh, but what I'd actually check is where your coins are sitting. Welcome back to Bull Runners, guys. I've had a coffee and two letters to the SEC open on the desk. So, this is my take and I want yours in the comments.

And I'll give you the good and the bad on this one because you can't make a proper call on your own money with half the story.

[music]

Now, picture this. You open your exchange app over Christmas to sell and you can't. In December 2020, a few days after the SEC sued Ripple, Coinbase moved XRP to limit orders only and on the 19th of January, it switched trading off completely. You could still pull your coins out, but you couldn't trade them where you'd bought them. That's a horrible feeling on a screen you don't control.

And doing this on your own is hard, right? A new headline every hour. Nobody hands you a plan and the exchanges don't wait for you. I once passed a 100 grand fund the challenge with the trading firm where they let you trade their money once you pass their test. And they refused to pay out about 30 grand.

It took a lot of emails before I saw it. And we've all had money we couldn't get at. And that's why that first link's there. Rather than guessing alone at midnight, there's a team going through this every week. And it starts with a short free video and a free chat about your own coins.

So your keys and your plan aren't left to chance. And I'll show you at the end what we do about it. The last time the SEC looked at XRP, it saw something completely different. Here's December 2020.

The SEC is preparing to sue that crypto startup for selling unlicensed securities. The asset in question here is called XRP. It's a cryptocurrency much like Bitcoin. Uh Ripple uses it for its clients which are mostly businesses and banks to send instant payments across borders. I'm told their argument is that XRP was an investment contract.

People bought it with the expectations that they were getting a piece of Ripple, the company.

Same coin, same building, and a completely different answer. And here's Ripple's boss that same day. Watch what he gets asked about first.

What would this mean to some of the global exchanges that hold XRP or it facilitate trading of XRP on those exchanges?

What does this mean for the crypto industry here in the United States? The SEC is really picking winners. And it really I think sends an ominous sign for innovation.

Now, were you listening? He didn't get asked about the price first. He got asked about the exchanges because that's where it bit. And Ripple's own letter on the 20th of October says that after that lawsuit, nearly every exchange open to the US customers delisted XRP or blocked access to it. And the price fell about 70% within days.

Those are their words, not mine. Coinbase put it out on the 19th of January 2021, plain as day, that it is suspended trading in XRP. And then the men who took the chair after that went even further. So, let's hear his case together.

My predecessor, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, I think said it well in 2018 in congressional testimony, I believe every ICO I have seen is a security. We have jurisdiction. Federal securities laws apply. I find myself agreeing with my predecessor, Chair Clayton. You see, generally folks are buying these tokens in anticipation of profits.

So, the chair who sued and the chair who came next said one thing. And the chair after that put XRP on a commodity list. Same coin. That's the sort of thing the research team digs out for our members, by the way. The old quote that shows you how fast a view can turn.

And one SEC undoing the last one isn't my theory. Here's the current chairman back in May on the climate rule, of all things.

The SEC has uh decided that we're putting out a proposal to withdraw the rule that uh was adopted by the SEC a couple years ago uh regarding uh climate change that exceeded our authority.

A new chair walks in and pulls his predecessor's rule. Fair enough. That's his job. But the next chair gets the same pen, doesn't he? What winds me up is the system around the label.

When the SEC changed its mind in 2020, the exchanges didn't wait for a judge. They switched XRP off within weeks, and the holders found out from an email. Our coins, our accounts, and a decision made in compliance office by people who never met us. And here's where most of us went wrong. We read the headline, officially a commodity, and never the filing.

Same coin, same news as a big fans, but Bitwise had lawyers put the risk in black and white for its investors, and most of us just shared the post. And reading it properly is one thing, but knowing what to do with your own bag off the back of it is what nobody hands us. Now, the bit that stings for my argument, a lot of XRP holders say they've never got something stronger than an interpretation, and to be fair, they've got a point. So, let's hear it.

Investors didn't really have a reasonable expectation of profit directly linked to what Ripple was up to. Investors didn't know that their money, when they bought XRP, was directly going to Ripple.

That one came from a court. Judge Torres ruled in July 2023 that XRP sold on public exchanges wasn't a security sale, and Ripple's letter says the appeals were dropped in August 2025. So, XRP has a floor under it that most coins on that list don't have. That's interesting though, because look at what happened on the day of that ruling. Coinbase and Kraken turned XRP back on for US customers the same day.

And that's from Ripple's letters, too. So, the exchanges switched it off for a lawsuit and back on for a ruling. The way they have their hand on the switch, not us. And Brad Garlinghouse is still optimistic that the regulators will fill the gap Congress left. I think there's a real chance the label ends up written down properly.

It might take longer than people want. And stick around because I've still got to show you the line in Ripple's letter that says all of this out loud, and the date to keep an eye on. So, the letters. On the 20th of October, Chainlink Labs, the Stellar Development Foundation, and four other projects sent the SEC one joint letter. And what's in it?

Well, this. The digital commodity label, and I'm reading it, appears only in the preamble, and not the rule text itself. If you don't know what a preamble is, it's the explaining part at the front that doesn't bind anyone. So, the label sits in the intro, and they asked the SEC to write it into the rules, so it becomes their word, durable. Chainlink's head of policy posted that builders need lasting certainty.

Lasting after a list everyone told us was settled. And Stella's been asking for this for years. Here's their boss in front of the Senate back in 2022.

Unfortunately, it fails to address the fundamental question that plagues this industry and has for far too long. When is a digital asset considered a commodity versus a security? The Howey test does not include a clear definition, and it was not an agency created rule. The industry desperately needs a definition.

Did you catch that? The industry desperately needs a definition. She said that 4 years ago, and it's still a letter, not a law. And now Ripple. Ripple sent its own letter backing the whole proposal, and this is the line I promised you.

While a future commission could withdraw the interpretation, changing rule text would require a new rule making. That's Ripple's own lawyers in writing to the SEC saying a future SEC could pull the March list. The same people who spent more than $150 million fighting the SEC in court. And they go further saying the gains rest on guidance a future commission could reverse. So, companies behind these coins aren't treating it as settled.

Why would we? And Chainlink's co-founder was in the room with both regulators back in August. Listen to what he thanks for them.

That your two agencies, the SEC and the CFTC, are finally working together productively rather than fighting with each other publicly, I think is in and of itself a massive improvement.

He's thanking them for now. No one who was in that room can promise you next time. Right, here's one for free, and do it with me. Open the app you hold with your coins on. If you've got it in an email and password, and you never wrote down 12 or 24 words when you set it up, then the exchange holds the keys, not you.

And that means if the rules change again, what happens to your coins is their call. Remember Garlinghouse getting asked about the exchanges first? Well, that's why. And keep an eye on the 27th of October because of that's when Ripple's Swell conference opens in New York. With Garlinghouse on stage days after these letters went in.

If anyone up there talks about getting this written into the rule, you'll know exactly why it matters. Now, as some of you were going, "Fine, I'll just wait till it's actually law." Look, I get it. But the last time the SEC changed its mind on XRP, nobody waited for a law. Coinbase went limit only within days and switched it off within weeks. And that was off the back of a lawsuit.

And Congress tried to write this into a law in September and fell short, 49 votes to 50. Even the chairman says the proper fix is Congress. Here he is in May.

We've come out with an interpretative release that divides the world and and gives clarity to the marketplace as to what's a security, a tokenized security, and then what is uh a digital commodity. I have confidence that Congress will uh adopt the uh Clarity Act, and that the president will be able to sign it, and that'll give us a statutory basis upon which uh we can operate.

A statutory basis. That's him saying the March list isn't one yet. So, waiting for the law doesn't help much if your coins are sat somewhere that acts before the law does. My honest take? The March list stands, and it's good news for all three of these coins, but it's a view, and the projects know that best because they spent the deadline asking for it in writing.

For me, the risk isn't the label. It's where your coins are sat. And keeping tabs on which of these letters actually lands in the final rule is the kind of thing the team watches for members week in, week out. If you've held through all of it, the lawsuit, the delistings, the lot, stick holding in the comments. So, quick recap.

The commodity label is an interpretation. Bitwise had to tell its own investors the rule wouldn't write it in. Ripple's own letter says a future SEC could pull it, and the last time the SEC changed its mind, the exchanges switched XRP off within weeks. So, for us, it comes down to three decisions. Where our coins sit and who actually holds the keys, whether they're doing anything for us while Washington makes its mind up or just sitting there, and when we move in or out if the label ever wobbles.

Decide it now and not on the day. So, for me, the time to get a plan sorted is before the SEC writes its final rule, not after. What I keep coming back to is how much energy we spend watching what Washington calls our coins and how little we spent on where they actually sit. Not because we're daft. Nobody ever showed us any different and I'm not just saying that.

That was me. When I started out, my bank stopped me depositing into my crypto wallets until they talked me through the risks. My money, my decision, and someone else had their hands on the switch. And a lot of us have had the same. That's what stuck with me, not the label on the coin, but who got their hands on the switch.

Thing is, it's not hard to sort. That's what our private intelligence network is for, guys. Most of what I bring you on this channel comes from inside it and in there it goes a lot deeper than I can in one video. Basically, the research team digs into where this is heading and members hear it first. They'll help you get it on your own keys so no bank or exchange can freeze it or switch it off like they did with XRP in 2021.

They'll show you how to get what you're already holding earning instead of just sat there. And every week there's a call where the team walks you through how they're reading it and when they're buying and taking profit themselves so you're not guessing. And everyone in there's holding a decent bag and in it for the long haul, same as you and me. Honestly, I'd be a lot further along myself if we started Alcoin Pro sooner. And if that app you opened earlier only ever asked you for an email and a password, that's the exact thing to bring to the 15 minutes.

Getting caught out by where your coins were sitting is a lesson a lot of us learned the hard way. And Julio learned it, too. This is a real message he sent in. He's been in crypto since 2018, taught himself mostly off YouTube, and had profitable trades. But, he also had major losses from not using a secure way of storing his coins.

What changed for him was a team that each specialized in their own area and one-to-one coaching that explains it at his level into the evenings and weekends while he runs his business. It's on Trustpilot, so you can look it up. Results like Julio's are exceptional, and they didn't happen by sitting still. So, be exceptional, too. Look, you could leave and hope the timing works out, or try and piece it together yourself at midnight reading SEC letters at the kitchen table like we all have.

I'd rather you just spend 15 minutes with the team and came away with a plan for your bag. It's free, and the worst case is you come away clearer. So, here's what to do. Tap more under this video and hit the very first link. Watch the short free briefing and book your free 15-minute call with someone on the team right underneath it.

They'll go through where you're at with your crypto and tell you straight whether it's a fit for you. That's the first link. Pause this, do it now, and come straight back. I'll be right here. It's built for people holding $50,000 or more in crypto.

And if that's not you yet, that's absolutely fine. Keep watching these videos with me. They're up every day, they're free, and we'll keep learning this together. And look, none of this is financial advice, guys. It's just my read after a lot of digging through those letters.

Crypto carries risk, and what's happened back in 2021 is no promise of what happens next. And a members results aren't a promise of yours, either. Your keys stay yours the whole way through. The team never needs them. And that's the point.

So, stick with me, subscribe, and there's a new one every day. And the one thing to keep an eye on is Swell from the 27th and the SEC's final rule whenever it lands. Thanks for watching, guys. Keep your head, stack with purpose, and I'll keep you posted.

[music]

Woo! Woo! Woo!