The SEC filing is an overreaching legal theory, says Ripple while pushing against the lawsuit

Ripple is not ready to leave any stoned unturned amid the legal battle to save XRP from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). During a court filing on Tuesday, the cross-border payments company pointed out that the regulator is moving forward with the narrative that XRP is a security token while leaving its peers, Bitcoin and Ethereum, untouched.

The SEC is deciding the winners and losers with the XRP fight

The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc., the company behind the issuance of XRP and its top executives, in December. The SEC alleges that the blockchain start-up, the co-founder Christian Larsen and the Chief Executive Officer Bradley Garlinghouse, duped investors into buying $1 billion of issued virtual tokens without duly being registered.

According to Ripple Labs, the SEC has no business regulating XRP because it a medium of exchange.  The company stresses that XRP is utilized in international and domestic transactions; thus, it is not a security. Ripple reckoned that:

The SEC's filing, based on an overreaching legal theory, amounts to picking virtual currency winners and losers as the SEC has exempted Bitcoin and Ether from similar regulation.

On Friday, a Bloomberg report said that the attorneys for Larsen and Garlinghouse had separately written to United States District Judge Analisa Torres detailing their anticipated motion to dismiss the regulators revise the complaint.

Ripple's on-chain metrics scream 'buy'

XRP may have a shaky technical picture, especially with the stubborn resistance at $0.45, but the token's on-chain metrics reveal the possibility of a massive recovery taking effect. For instance, the MVRV recently dropped into the buy zone, suggesting that it was time to go all-in on XRP.

The MVRV tracks "average profit or loss of those holding XRP tokens which moved in the last 30 days." The model is then adjusted to reflect the price when each of the XRP tokens last moved. A high MVRV highlights that most of the holders in profit are likely to sell.

On the other hand, a small ratio, or below zero, suggests that most holders are at a loss and are not likely to sell. Meanwhile, the current MVRV ratio is below zero but has started to rise, suggesting that XRP could see an influx of buyers as prices grow appreciably.

Ripple MVRV

The bullish outlook has been echoed by the holder distribution chart, which vividly shows XRP whales filling their bags massively. Addresses containing between 1 million and 10 million XRP recently bottomed out at 1,131 on February 21. A recovery ensued, and these addresses have grown to 1,163 at the time of writing. If the whales continue with the buying spree, the tailwind on XRP will soar, pushing the token to higher levels.

Ripple holder distribution

The lawsuit against Ripple has been the main factor behind its unappealing performance in the ongoing bull run. Most investors are skeptical of the outcome of the lawsuit and prefer to stay away from XRP. Therefore, the token may continue to struggle with its recovery until a clear XRP's future emergence.