There have been talks of the likelihood of Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settling in their ongoing legal battle. However, recent comments from Ripple’s President Monica Lang suggest that the company is unlikely to settle with the Commission as it plans on seeing the case “all the way through.”
Ripple Not Backing Down
Lang told news channel CNBC that her company plans on fighting the SEC’s lawsuit against it till the end. The Ripple president explained that Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling had strengthened the company’s resolve and provided “clarity” by stating that XRP isn’t a security. According to her, this ruling has also opened the door for the company to expand its business not just in the US but “even more globally.”
The SEC sued Ripple back in December 2020 when it accused the company and its executives of violating securities laws by selling XRP tokens without first registering them as securities. Since then, Ripple has chosen to go head-to-head with the Commission in court rather than succumb to a settlement with the regulator.
The crypto company secured a major victory in July this year when Judge Analisa Torres gave a summary judgment in favor of the firm, stating that XRP wasn’t a security and that the company’s programmatic sales and other distributions didn’t constitute investment contracts.
As such, it is understandable why Lang and Ripple will be willing to see the case through, as the odds seem to have tilted in their favor following the court’s ruling. Although the SEC intends to appeal this decision, experts have predicted that the Commission will likely lose if the court grants the interlocutory appeal.
Ripple may also be looking to use a potential victory against the SEC to restore investors’ confidence in the crypto company. This is especially because the company’s CTO David Schwartz had previously mentioned how the SEC’s lawsuit made the company lose important deals.
Going To Be A Long Ride
Ripple and the SEC seem hell-bent on seeing this lawsuit to the end, suggesting that the legal battle has no end in sight with the case, which is already nearing three years and is likely to drag on longer.
Before the SEC filed a motion for interlocutory appeal, Judge Analisa Torres had issued a pretrial scheduling order to schedule a jury trial for the case in the second quarter of 2024. This means that the Ripple case could run until the end of 2024 and beyond (in the event of a subsequent appeal).
Furthermore, the court granting the SEC’s request for an interlocutory appeal will mean that Ripple and the SEC will have to battle it out again in the courtroom, even before the jury trial begins.
