Ripple Could Not Push XRP Without Risking SEC Lawsuit, Legal Expert Suggests

Ripple has been keeping quiet about XRP for years, and it is not just a PR move — it is a legal strategy, says XRP-friendly lawyer Bill Morgan. According to Morgan, Ripple was afraid of mentioning the coin in public because it would give the SEC ammo in a looming enforcement case.

The company knew the risk as early as 2013, he says, and by 2018, with the SEC circling, the messaging on XRP went cold.

It all started with Wietse Wind, a key contributor to the XRPL. From what he says, the big innovations, like Hooks and Xahau, came about because they were needed and the timing was right — not because of any lawsuits. 

Morgan says that Ripple was afraid of making the SEC’s case stronger, so they just sat back and watched while other assets got a lot of attention.

Missed opportunity?

While Bitcoin and Ethereum were getting a lot of attention from the public — even from a former SEC official, as Morgan points out — Ripple was operating in stealth mode between 2018 and 2020. They held back on promoting XRP and the XRPL to avoid feeding the “unregistered security” narrative. 

Thus, XRP had a lot of potential, but its marketing was pretty much nonexistent. Ripple could barely mention XRP, says the lawyer, while Michael Saylor was turning Bitcoin evangelism into a sport.

Now, in 2026, that wait might finally be over. It looks like a buried clause in the U.S. Clarity Act draft is giving XRP the one thing Ripple’s legal team could not secure in court: a statutory exemption from securities classification. 

The proposed rule says that any token that is the main asset of a U.S.-listed ETF as of Jan. 1, 2026, will not be considered a security under the 1933 Act, a category in which XRP qualifies.