Ripple Defies SEC Settlement Offer, Fights for Crypto Clarity
Mustafa Mulla3 Jul 20242 min read
Over three and a half years in, the legal battle between Ripple and the SEC is far from over. But in a surprising twist, the SEC has thrown a curveball – slashing their penalty demand from a whopping $2 billion to a mere $102 million. But wait, don’t celebrate just yet.
Despite this, Ripple rejected the SEC’s offer and instead filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority, as Defense Attorney James Filan shared.
So, what’s going on?
Drawing Parallels with Binance
On July 2, 2024, Ripple Labs submitted this Notice in the court of Judge Analisa Torres, a critical development in Ripple’s ongoing opposition to the SEC’s motion for remedies and final judgment.
Ripple is leveraging Binance’s recent legal victory to challenge the SEC’s inconsistent regulatory approach, arguing for the necessity of formal rulemaking. The notice underscores that intangible digital assets do not neatly fit into the Howey test framework, a seven-page opinion used to classify securities.
Ripple criticized the SEC’s reliance on court cases to regulate the industry, warning that this could lead to inconsistent results and unclear guidance for market participants.
The SEC’s Expected Response
The SEC is anticipated to counter Ripple’s Notice, likely drawing from the SEC vs. Terraform Labs ruling. In that case, Judge Rakoff determined that Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, violated U.S. securities laws by failing to register TerraUSD and Luna as securities.
Judge Rakoff also referenced the Programmatic Sales of XRP ruling, suggesting that Judge Torres might have erred in her judgment.
Impact on XRP Price
The result of this lawsuit is expected to cause significant changes in the price of Ripple’s native token, XRP, and the wider cryptocurrency market. A win for Ripple could trigger an XRP rally, as seen after Ripple’s partial victory last year. On the other hand, a win for the SEC might lead to a drop in the crypto market.
Currently, XRP’s price has seen a modest increase of 0.5%, trading at $0.4792 with a market cap of $26.68 billion. This remains below its recent high of $0.52, influenced by speculation around the potential approval of an Ethereum ETF.
Read Also: Binance’s Epic Win Over SEC: Ripple Case Now in the Spotlight
Will XRP soar or sink based on the lawsuit’s outcome? Let us know your predictions!
