Important Ripple v SEC Lawsuit Update: What is the Next Step?

TL;DR

• The legal conflict between Ripple and the SEC continues with recent sealed filings and scheduled court submissions, coinciding with a slight increase in XRP’s price.
• The lawsuit started in December 2020 with the regulator accusing the firm of conducting an unregistered securities offering.

The Latest Development

The legal spat between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) keeps intensifying. The latest action came from the regulator, which filed its remedies reply brief and supporting exhibits under seal. The redacted and public version of the data is supposed to be presented by May 8. Prior to that, both parties should meet and confer to identify redactions sought by each side. 

These are not the only advancements scheduled for this month. On May 13, the court enemies are set to file omnibus letter motions to seal all materials relating to the remedies briefings, such as documents, declarations, and supporting exhibits. A week later, they should file letter briefs in opposition to omnibus letter motions to seal. 

“Under the joint proposal, the parties would further be required to file public, redacted versions of all documents within 14 days of the Court’s rulings on the omnibus sealing motions,” the official document reads. 

XRP’s price reacted positively to the recent advancements, briefly surging to almost $0.57. In the following hours, it retraced to its current level of $0.54 (per CoinGecko’s data), a 5% increase on a weekly scale.

Brief Summary of the Lawsuit

The legal battle between Ripple and the US SEC started in December 2020 when the watchdog accused the company of illegally raising over $1.3 billion in an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP. The firm insists that its native token should not be categorized as a security, thus not fall under the agency’s jurisdiction.

After years of firing shots at each other and achieving little progress in terms of a final settlement, the spat entered its trial phase last month. Prior to it, Ripple secured three vital partial victories and, according to some, has the upper hand.

It remains unclear when the outcome will occur with many industry participants predicting it could drag for years due to delays from both sides and the complexity of the legal process. One person who is optimistic that we might see a resolution this summer is the American attorney Jeremy Hogan. He believes Ripple and the SEC could shake hands on a $100 million agreement.

Those curious to dive deeper into the specifics of the lawsuit and learn about its impact on the price of XRP, feel free to take a look at our dedicated video below: