Judge In Ripple Case Modifies Calendar, Raising Prospects of Suit Concluding Before Year-End ⋆ ZyCrypto

Judge Analisa Torres has modified a proposed calendar on the SEC v. Ripple case in a bid to end proceedings before the end of this year.

As per the Thursday document, the Judge gave new directions requiring parties to file any motions to exclude expert testimony by July 12, while all oppositions have to be filed by August 9 this year. Parties were also required to file their replies, if any, by August 30 to allow them to file any motions for summary judgment by September 13.

Further, the court required the parties to file their oppositions and responses on the summary judgment filings by October 13 and any further replies by November 15, marking a closure to the stage of the proceedings. This shall henceforth give the court ample time to issue a binding judgment on the almost three-year-long legal battle, one and a half months behind the proposed timelines.

Previously, both parties had made a request to have “Oppositions to any motions for summary judgment, response to Rule 56.1 Statements and responses to motions to exclude testimony must be filed by November 2, 2022.” They had also requested that “Replies to any opposition must be filed by December 20, 2022,” dampening the spirits of an already beat-down XRP community.

Thursday’s orders come in the wake of Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressing confidence in Ripple bagging a win in the case. Brad who spoke to Bloomberg Wednesday noted that a win for Ripple would be a win for the whole crypto industry. To him, Ripple’s growth will be unfazed by the outcome of the legal battle as it’s already acting as if it had lost the case and SEC’s continued hardheadedness was only hurting America’s technological progression.

“I just think it’s incredibly frustrating that here in the United States, where we have led innovation in so many different industries, we have an agency that’s overreaching and really constraining competitiveness and hiring people here in the United States,” Garlinghouse said.

He however noted that despite being on the wrong footing with the SEC, Ripple had a record year in 2021 and in Q1 of 2022 with crossborder transactions using XRP growing 8x in Q1 of 2022, year-on-year.

That said, although Wednesday’s directions by Judge Torres might not have had so much of an effect on the price, the XRP community expects a closure of the case before year-end would set up the price for a meteoric surge as U.S. exchanges relist XRP.

As of writing, XRP is up 0.75% to $0.6113. With the ongoing market-wide carnage, the price will need broader market support to rise to $0.66, its most immediate overhead resistance.