XRP ranges around $0.60 as attorney notes SEC did not ask for $102.6 million in fine
- SEC did not ask Ripple to pay $102.6 million in penalty, attorney Jeremy Hogan says it was a legal argument.
- SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit awaits final ruling from Judge Analisa Torres.
- XRP hovers around psychological support level at $0.60, early on July 26.
Pro-crypto attorney says Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple could settle in a “compromise” and not a win for the two parties. Attorney Bill Morgan, Fred Rispoli and Jeremy Hogan commented on the recent events in the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit, the closed-doors meeting and the likelihood of a settlement.
XRP trades at $0.59, early on Friday.
Daily digest market movers: Pro-crypto attorneys comment on SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit developments
- Pro crypto attorney Jeremy Morgan says that the SEC did not ask Ripple for $102.6 million in its filing. Instead, the regulator noted that even by Ripple’s argument the fine would be $102.6 million, far exceeding the remittance firm’s $10 million offer.
ME: The SEC isn't requesting a penalty of $102 million, it's arguing that even applying Ripple's logic to the Terra settlement, the penalty should be $102 million.
— Jeremy Hogan (@attorneyjeremy1) June 15, 2024
Also Me: What are the CHANCES? pic.twitter.com/MhQDPLV5s9
- Ripple had argued in its filing that a $10 million fine would be apt for the alleged securities law violation.
- Attorney Fred Rispoli predicted that the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit will end by the end of July 2024.
- In a recent tweet attorney Bill Morgan commented on the closed-doors meeting with the SEC and said that a settlement is most likely with a compromise rather than a win for the parties.
Settlements generally end matters in dispute including appeal rights in the current proceedings. The more likely difficulty is other Ripple XRP sales since December 2020 and future Ripple sales of XRP. https://t.co/V4DaPeqXz6
— bill morgan (@Belisarius2020) July 25, 2024
Technical analysis: XRP hovers above key psychological support
Ripple is currently in an upward trend that started on July 8, the altcoin could extend gains by 18% and hit its target at $0.70, as seen in XRP/USDT daily chart. In its rally, Ripple faces resistance at the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level of the decline from March 11 top of $0.7440 to the July 5 low of $0.3823.
The momentum indicator, Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) supports Ripple’s gains, green histogram bars indicate underlying positive momentum in Ripple’s price trend.
XRP/USDT daily chart
XRP could find support at $0.5632, the 50% Fibonacci retracement level and the Fair Value Gap (FVG) with upper and lower boundary at $0.5703 and $0.5404, as seen in the chart.
SEC vs Ripple lawsuit FAQs
It depends on the transaction, according to a court ruling released on July 14: For institutional investors or over-the-counter sales, XRP is a security. For retail investors who bought the token via programmatic sales on exchanges, on-demand liquidity services and other platforms, XRP is not a security.
The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Ripple and its executives of raising more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered asset offering of the XRP token. While the judge ruled that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, sales of XRP tokens to institutional investors are indeed investment contracts. In this last case, Ripple did breach the US securities law and will need to keep litigating over the around $729 million it received under written contracts.
The ruling offers a partial win for both Ripple and the SEC, depending on what one looks at. Ripple gets a big win over the fact that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, and this could bode well for the broader crypto sector as most of the assets eyed by the SEC’s crackdown are handled by decentralized entities that sold their tokens mostly to retail investors via exchange platforms, experts say. Still, the ruling doesn’t help much to answer the key question of what makes a digital asset a security, so it isn’t clear yet if this lawsuit will set precedent for other open cases that affect dozens of digital assets. Topics such as which is the right degree of decentralization to avoid the “security” label or where to draw the line between institutional and programmatic sales are likely to persist.
The SEC has stepped up its enforcement actions toward the blockchain and digital assets industry, filing charges against platforms such as Coinbase or Binance for allegedly violating the US Securities law. The SEC claims that the majority of crypto assets are securities and thus subject to strict regulation. While defendants can use parts of Ripple’s ruling in their favor, the SEC can also find reasons in it to keep its current strategy of regulation by enforcement.
The court decision is a partial summary judgment. The ruling can be appealed once a final judgment is issued or if the judge allows it before then. The case is in a pretrial phase, in which both Ripple and the SEC still have the chance to settle.
Author
Ekta Mourya
FXStreet
Ekta Mourya has extensive experience in fundamental and on-chain analysis, particularly focused on impact of macroeconomics and central bank policies on cryptocurrencies.
