- An appellate court has agreed to a filing from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple to temporarily pause their appeals in the long-running legal case.
- The appeals will be paused for 60 days as the parties continue settlement negotiations, with the SEC expected to provide a status report by June 15.
- The SEC had agreed to drop its appeal in March signalling the end of the years-long legal battle, although there are still a few legal wrinkles to iron out.
There’s been another instalment in ‘The Never Ending Story: Crypto Edition’, starring Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The latest episode of the closely-watched legal drama landed April 16, when an appellate court agreed to grant a joint request from Ripple and the SEC to temporarily pause an appeal in the case as the parties engage in settlement negotiations.
The ruling, which was made by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, sees the appeal held in abeyance — essentially put on hold — for 60 days. As part of the ruling the SEC is expected to provide a status report by June 15.
It follows announcements in March that the SEC’s case against Ripple had finally come to a conclusion when the regulator agreed to drop its appeal against the final judgement in the case. In turn, Ripple followed suit and said it would drop its cross-appeal against the SEC’s appeal.
At the time, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse declared it marked the end of the case, saying in a video posted to X / Twitter “I’m finally able to announce that the case has ended; it’s over.”
Of course, issues related to a potential settlement still need to be ironed out before the case can be truly laid to rest.
Related: CEO Brad Garlinghouse Says Ripple ‘Moving Past SEC’s War on Crypto’
Judgement In Long-Running Case Favoured Ripple
The August 2024 final judgement in the long-running legal case largely favoured Ripple, with the court finding only Ripple’s sales of its cryptocurrency XRP to institutional investors breached securities laws. For this breach the court imposed a penalty of US$125 million (AU$196.7 million) , much less than the US$2 billion (AU$3.1 billion) the SEC was seeking.
The court found that most of Ripple’s XRP sales were not breaches of securities laws, including: programmatic sales of XRP on crypto exchanges; Ripple’s granting of XRP to third-parties such as employees; and Ripple executive’s sales of XRP on exchanges. The court also imposed an injunction on Ripple that blocked the company from selling XRP to institutional investors.
Following this judgment, the SEC launched its appeal which was quickly followed by Ripple’s cross-appeal.
Related: Acting SEC Chair Uyeda Orders Review of Crypto Regulations to Boost Deregulation
With the re-election of Donald Trump to the Presidency in the US though, things changed dramatically at the SEC.
In the months since Trump’s return the regulator, under the stewardship of its new acting chair Mark T. Uyeda, has dropped many legal cases against cryptocurrency companies — including its appeal in the Ripple case. In addition, the SEC has also agreed to return US$75 million (AU$118 million) of the US$125 million penalty to Ripple and to request the court lift its injunction against the company, which was originally imposed at the regulator’s request.
Credit: Source link
