XRP holders to see redacted versions of SEC reply in Ripple lawsuit on Wednesday
- Ripple lawsuit sees SEC file its reply under seal, alongside supporting exhibits.
- The documents’ public redacted versions will be filed by Wednesday, May 8.
- XRP is hovering around $0.53 after rallying to a $0.57 high on Monday.
Ripple (XRP) lawsuit’s latest development is Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, under seal. The regulator has filed its reply brief and supporting exhibits and the documents will be made public on Wednesday, May 8.
The next key deadline in the lawsuit is May 13 By this date, both parties are expected to file motions to seal all remedies-related materials from recent proceedings.
Daily Digest Market Movers: Ripple and SEC to confer and redacted version of the filing will be out soon
- The SEC alleged that Ripple had violated securities laws and asked the court to fine the payment firm $2 billion in penalties for unregistered sale of XRP tokens to institutions.
- The two parties are currently debating the “expert material” status of SEC’s Chief Assistant Accountant Andrea Fox’s statements, per latest filings from Ripple and the regulator.
- The SEC filed its response to Ripple’s brief on Monday, May 6, alongside supporting exhibits.
- The filing is under wraps and the firm is expected to meet the regulator, concur on parts that need to be redacted before making them available for public view, per attorney James Filan’s update on X.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP The @SECGov has filed, under seal, its remedies reply brief & supporting exhibits. These documents are not yet public. Public, redacted versions will be filed by Wednesday, May 8, 2024. Other sealing-related filings will follow. See below. pic.twitter.com/ENnkh6oW9H
— James K. Filan (@FilanLaw) May 6, 2024
- On May 13, both parties are expected to file omnibus-letter motions to seal all materials relating to remedies-related briefing, including briefs, declarations and supporting exhibits.
- May 20 is the deadline for the payment remittance firm and Ripple to file their opposition to the briefs.
Technical analysis: XRP hovers around $0.53 as traders digest updates in lawsuit
Ripple rallied to a high of $0.57 on Monday as the SEC filed its reply brief under wraps. XRP is hovering around $0.53, a key level for XRP in the past five days. The green histogram bars on the Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator and the recent crossover above the signal line, support XRP price gains.
XRP faces immediate resistance at $0.5574, the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the decline between April 9 top of $0.6431 to April 13 low of $0.4188.
XRP/USDT 1-day chart
XRP could find support at $0.50 in the event of a decline in price.
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.
