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.