Ripple v. SEC court case update as of December 20, 2022

With the cryptocurrency sector continuing to battle the problems caused by the widely publicized FTX collapse, the community has also been closely following the ongoing case between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As a reminder, the SEC is accusing Ripple, the issuer of the XRP token, of illegally selling more than $1.3 billion worth of XRP, which the regulator considers securities, between 2013 and December 2020, when the lawsuit was launched.

Despite the rumors that the final judgment on the case might be ready by December 15, as both the regulator and the blockchain company have filed their amici briefs and final submissions, in an indication that the conclusion might, in fact, be close, the date has come and gone without it.

Discussing the above deadline and his stand on the case has given Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson a lot of heat from the Ripple and XRP community, including accusing him of being a liar, which led to Hoskinson announcing that he would no longer discuss anything related to Ripple.

Tentative deadline and personnel changes

Meanwhile, a pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton voiced his expectation that the outcome of the lawsuit would be delayed until April or May, or at least March 31, based on the sheer number of pages and documents that the court needs to go over before making the final decision, as he explained on December 12.

On December 15, attorney James Filan said that lawyer Rodrigo Seira had filed a motion in the ongoing case, requesting to appear as pro hac vice (an attorney counsel from another jurisdiction) on behalf of the crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm Operations LP.

More recently, Nicole Tatz, an attorney serving as the co-defendant’s counsel in the lawsuit, has submitted a motion to withdraw, stating that other attorneys at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP would continue to be the counsel of record for Ripple CEO Bradley Garlinghouse on the case.

Earlier, Finbold reported on Ripple’s general counsel Stuart Alderoty reiterating the defense’s arguments and asserting that “Ripple does not depend on a conclusion that XRP was purchased for use – though such a conclusion, as shown by amici briefs and the non-speculative evidence, would defeat the SEC’s claims.”

XRP price analysis

As the community eagerly awaits the lawsuit’s conclusion, the XRP token is currently changing hands at the price of $0.3452, up 0.45% on the day, although still down 9.85% across the previous week and 10.01% over the month.

With a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, XRP retains its position as the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by this indicator, according to the data retrieved by Finbold from the crypto tracking platform CoinMarketCap on December 20.

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