Ripple Inc. stated that it will defend itself in opposition to the lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission that reckons the company breached investor-protection laws when it sold a bitcoin-like digital asset named XRP.The suit, which hasn’t been filed as of yet, would be one of the largest-profile SEC actions in opposition to the cryptocurrency pioneer, just as the regulator’s chairman is departing at the end of the Trump administration. The SEC over the past few years has brought and won most civil lawsuits alleging startups crushed securities laws when they raised money by selling cryptocurrencies.None of those companies, though, was as big as Ripple and XRP. Ripple has a $10 billion valuation in its most current funding round back in 2019, and XRP is the third-biggest cryptocurrency by market value.