NEW: $XRP

has just overtaken $USDT to become the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap, returning to where it was pre-SEC/Ripple lawsuit.

There was a time, prior to the Hinman speech in June 2018 when the @SECGov deemed $BTC and $ETH non-securities under the “sufficiently decentralized” argument, that $XRP was actually the number two largest cryptocurrency by market cap behind $BTC. Following the speech, ethereum’s market cap overtook XRP’s in November 2018.

The so-called “Hinman emails,” obtained through discovery in the @Ripple case, showed some officials inside the @SECGov at odds with the speech’s content, worried about the implications it could have on the regulatory status of other cryptocurrencies.

Six years later, that regulatory status remains unclear.