Court rules in favor of the SEC against Ripple in XRP lawsuit

Judge Sarah Netburns has ruled in favor of the US Securities & Exchange Commission, allowing them to access crucial documents from Ripple. This is part of the ongoing lawsuit, which has been running for over a year. Both parties are in the remedy phase. Ripple did mark a partial win when Judge Analisa Torres ruled that its product was balanced for institutional sales. However, the case continues, and more details are yet to be explored.

Access to documents includes reviewing Ripple’s financials and post-complaint customer contracts. Judge Sarah Netburns siding with the SEC does not necessarily show that Judge Analisa Torres’s verdict was on the wrong side. It rather goes on to show that there is indeed a lot for both parties to talk about. This signals that the case is not close to concluding.

Judge Netburns said that the court does not see any basis to short-circuit the inquiry by denying access to documents, adding that the information available from those documents may be probative to the remedy stage.

Future steps of the Commission will be based on what documents have in store for them. The two most anticipated measures coming to light are injunctions and civil money penalties. Additional business information obtained from the said documents will help the SEC reach the next step that has to be taken. Details to be furnished to the Commission will start from the time when the lawsuit was originally launched, that is, in late 2020.

Ripple will now have to furnish details about XRP sales revenue that it has realized during the timeline of 3–4 years.

As of now, charges against Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen have been dismissed. Ripple fought hard to justify that further SEC requests were irrelevant to the case and were also untimely.

The offering of illegal securities is a portion of the case that remains partially unfinished. The US SEC will now be looking to have a strong position in negotiating positions around the ongoing lawsuit against Ripple.

That said, its native token has been down by 5.24% in the last 7 days. However, it has started gaining momentum in the last 24 hours. This is evident from the fact that XRP is up by 0.31%, listed at $0.5047. The market cap and 24-hour volume are both up by 0.25% and 33.40%, respectively, at the time of articulating this piece.

A resistance, or support, level for XRP could be $0.51, assuming the token plays well in the market. The ongoing case will certainly impact how it exchanges hands, but Ripple will do its best to assure the community that everything is fine in the ecosystem.

More developments in the SEC versus Ripple lawsuit are awaited.