The ongoing lawsuit between Ripple Labs and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been a subject of interest for the XRP community since 2020. The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs for selling XRP without registering it as a security, which has been contested by Ripple, stating that XRP is not an investment contract but rather a token created to facilitate cross-border transactions between banks and financial institutions. The case is finally edging towards an end with both parties submitting final rounds of briefs to secure summary judgment of the case.
As per U.S. defense lawyer James K. Filan, who has been updating the XRP community on the case, everything is briefed in the lawsuit as of January 19, 2023. However, this doesn’t mean that the judge will issue a final ruling immediately. Judge Analisa Torres is currently reviewing the materials to come up with a final ruling. According to XRP community attorney John Deaton, this is the best update ever.
Recently, Filan predicted that the judge could decide on both the expert motions and summary judgment on or before March 2023. However, Attorney Jeremy Hogan believes that the case is more complicated than how people think. He thinks the judge can decide on any piece of the suit at any time and expects that a judgment could take a while for people to figure out whether it was a win for Ripple or not.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has also confirmed that the ruling may likely come out in the first half of the year. The case is now fully briefed in front of the judge, and they are optimistic that this will certainly be resolved in 2023, maybe in the first half. However, any victory for Ripple Labs could send the price of XRP to $1 as exchanges may relist the asset for a wider audience.
The impact of the case goes beyond Ripple Labs, and it could have a significant effect on the entire crypto industry. SEC chair Gary Gensler stated that the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are securities at an event organized by the Practising Law Institute. Garlinghouse believes that this statement leaves very little space for settlement, and the outcome of the case will mean a lot to the entire crypto industry. Additionally, he believes that cryptocurrencies are still thriving outside the US. Therefore, it is important to engage non-US regulators as well.
In conclusion, the Ripple-SEC case has remained a subject of interest for the XRP community since 2020. Both parties have submitted final rounds of briefs in a bid to secure summary judgment of the case, but the judge has not issued her final ruling yet. The case’s outcome could have a significant impact on the entire crypto industry, and its victory could send the price of XRP to $1 as exchanges may relist the asset for a wider audience. However, it remains to be seen when the judge will make her final ruling on the case.
