BROOKLYN, New York – You might have heard about the lawsuit case filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against XRP and its two executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. No concrete resolution has been made yet, and it is most likely that the case will continue until next year. Progress to this case has been noted, though, as deadlines for several briefings have been drawn already. Nevertheless, it is still not easy to conclude who will win this battle.
Since this case started, both the SEC and Ripple have had small victories in their belts. However, this case has elicited interest from the public since it is one of the rare occasions when a defendant fights their way against the SEC.
Typically, the SEC would file a lawsuit when they know that the odds are on their side. And typically, the defendants would agree to reach a settlement rather than fight for their case since the penalties and the fees for the process itself are worth tons of money, which would mean a loss of resources on the defendants’ side. However, Ripple chose to argue their way, which might open doors for a proper litigation process for all the other assets in the cryptocurrency market under the SEC’s watch.
The XRP stands strong on the idea of Bill Hinman’s given statement in 2018 about Ethereum not being a security. It gave Ripple the upper hand, demanding access to some of the internal deliberations that have happened in the SEC.
Experts’ opinions are also torn on who is likely to win this case. According to crypto attorneys Preston Byrne and Anderson Kill, XRP is still not meeting the “qualifications” regarding the Howey Test, a four-part assessment established by the Supreme Court to identify if an asset – digital or not – is a security or not.
There will still be a lot of unfolding that will happen in the upcoming days, so stay tuned.
