Both parties must address pending issues presenting a new motion.
In March, Ripple announced that the SEC intended to leave the case.
In a new chapter of the litigation between the United States Stock Exchange and Securities Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs, Judge Analisa Torres, of the Southern District Court of New York, denied a conciliation agreement between both parties. The decision relies on the request, according to the judge, is “procedurally improper.” This temporarily brakes the efforts of Ripple and the SC to solve pending aspects of the case.
The case, initiated in December 2020, faced the SEC and Ripple for the alleged unregistered sale of XRP as value. In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres rejected the arguments of the stock exchange and values commission that Ripple offered unregistered titles, which represented a victory for the company. However, he also determined that XRP institutional sales did violate the securities laws, which resulted in a fine of USD 125 million. Finally, in March, Ripple announced that the SEC – since under a new direction – would withdraw the litigation.
The dispute was resolved by an agreement in May, in which Ripple He promised to pay USD 50 million of the original fine. In fact, both parties requested the Court to annul an order that prohibited Ripple to violate the securities laws and reduce the sanction to the amount proposed by the company. However, Judge Torres has considered the application as improper, noting that it had to have been submitted under rule 60 of the Federal Code of Civil Procedure, which only allows to modify a final ruling in “exceptional circumstances.” This decision delays the final resolution of the case, leaving Ripple and the SEC in search of a new strategy to close it.
Stuart Alderoty, legal director of Ripple, shared The judge’s order in her X profile, noting that “Nothing changes Ripple’s victory that XRP is not a value”. He explained that the matter is limited to procedural issues linked to the withdrawal of the cross appeal, and assured that both parties are aligned in resolving the case, so the issue will be resumed before the Court.
What follows for Ripple and the SEC?
The denial of the joint motion by Judge Analisa Torres marks a procedural obstacle, but Does not alter Ripple’s advances in litigation. However, the rejection of the application to annul the court order and set a fine of USD 50 million forces Ripple and to rethink its strategy to close the case, which remains very important for the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the US.
Thus, both parties could reformulate your proposal or negotiate a broader agreement that contemplates both sanctions and restrictionswith the aim of closing the case definitively. While the litigation is still open, the court order that limits the institutional sales of XRP continues to restrict Ripple’s operational flexibility. However, the company retains freedom to operate in Exchanges, thanks to the 2023 ruling that exempted scheduled sales.
The truth is that the XRP community remains attentive to the updates, and although the denial does not change the status of the cryptoactive as non-value, Delays could impact investors confidence and their price. On that last, users believe that, as soon as the case comes to an end, the XRP value will be triggered. At the time of writing this note, Ripple Cryptocurren data of tradingview.
