Judge Analisa Torres denied a joint motion from Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Both parties had tried to sneak through a motion asking the court to agree on their settlement. This move could have dissolved Ripple’s 2024 injunction and slashed its $125 million fine down to $25 million.
Commenters suggested that Judge Torres isn’t here for the easy exit, and she’s playing hardball as the long-running legal dispute is finally ending. The court’s order seems to have disrupted Ripple’s party as XRP price took a dip of 4% over the last 24 hours after witnessing an upward rally.
Ripple-SEC truce hits legal snag
Eleanor Terrett, former Fox Business journalist, in a post stated that after speaking with three legal sources, she reads that Judge Torres is not making it easy for the SEC and Ripple to simply walk away. She’s forcing both sides to earn their way out, not just wave the white flag and move on.
Pro-crypto lawyer and amicus curiae in the XRP lawsuit, John Deaton, raised a valid point, which suggests that from Torres’s perspective, the watchdog has spent years digging in on XRP being a security. This has resulted in a legal strategy that has required thousands of hours of legal and judicial manpower, just for the agency to suggest that those five years were essentially a waste.
Judge Torres might have denied their initial request, but she has also outlined a clear path forward. If Ripple and the SEC can meet the actual legal standards and convince her this do-over is in the public interest, especially for XRP’s institutional buyers, then maybe she reconsiders.
Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, mentioned that the firm will work with the commission to revisit the issue together. He noted that nothing in the order changes Ripple’s wins that XRP is not a security. However, he has been on the opposite side for around five years. It’ll be crucial to see if the judge eases up once they have done the necessary work, or she makes this more of a “political fight,” added Terrett.
Ripple’s $125M fine stands
The August 2024 ruling had barred Ripple from unlawful securities sales. Ripple and the SEC were trying to undo that and negotiate a lighter penalty, but the court basically said, “File it properly, or don’t file it at all.”
This all goes back to the SEC’s 2020 lawsuit accusing the XRP issuer of selling $1.3 billion in unregistered XRP securities. The game changed in July 2023, when Torres ruled XRP sales to institutions broke the law, but retail sales didn’t.
On the market side, XRP price was riding on an upward wave until the recent order landed in the legal fight. Despite the recent dip, XRP is still up by 16% in the last 30 days and is trading at an average price of $2.41 at press time.
Ripple has been expanding its scope after a US court bagged them a partial win. The blockchain company announced its collaboration with Mercy Corps Ventures as part of its Unlocking Opportunity initiative. The partnership with WËIA will leverage the XRP Ledger to test how blockchain traceability could boost incomes for 300 smallholder farmers in Colombia.
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