The SEC lawsuit against Ripple now has 12 amici curiae boosting the defendant’s case, but the SEC plans to delay: “We need more time.”
The long-battled lawsuit between the San Francisco-based fintech firm Ripple and the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet another update. Despite calls for a conclusion and growing support for Ripple, the SEC has asked for an extended timeline.
Legal experts weren’t too pleased with this motion as the regulator’s victory probability grew slimmer. BeInCrypto reported that a few legal experts hinted that the SEC’s (potential) “bruising defeat” could be nearing soon.
SEC vs. Ripple: Deploying the Same Strategy With Some Twists
Supporters for Ripple Labs in its litigation against the SEC keep piling on. More than 75,000 supporters and (now) 12 entities have pledged their support for Ripple with an Amicus curiae brief filing. This helps the court get pertinent information or expertise from individuals or organizations that aren’t directly involved in the case.
Of late, VeriDAO, a Wyoming-based decentralized autonomous organization, sent an amicus brief in support of Ripple’s attorneys’ motion for summary judgment.
Too much to handle?
The SEC isn’t ready to quit just yet, however. Renowned attorney James K Filan shared more on this development in a Nov. 4 tweet. Herein The SEC filed a motion to extend the time to file all ‘parties’ reply briefs until Nov. 30, 2022, and further requested a deadline for briefs with an increased page limit.
As per new timelines, the SEC asked ruling judge Analisa Torres to ‘order that any additional Amicus Briefs be filed by Nov. 11, 2022.’ The opposing side didn’t counter this development.
“To prevent the need for additional extension requests, the SEC requests, with Defendants’ consent, that the Court order that any additional amicus motion is filed no later than Nov. 11, 2022.”
The SEC had previously prolonged the motion. Was it maybe taking time to recover? Towards the end of October, the SEC gave up the ‘Hinman documents.‘
The Ripple team and supporters saw this move as a massive gain.
Who’s Keeping Count?
Ripple’s general counsel Stuart Alderoty and CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared their respective narratives on Twitter.
Alderoty slammed the SEC’s response and tactics as, despite countless delays in the final verdict, the regulators choose to “blindly bulldoze on.”
Additionally, Brad Garlinghouse asserted:
“For those of you keeping count, 12 (!) amici briefs submitted. It’s unprecedented (I’m told) to have this happen at this stage. They each explain – in their unique way – the irreparable harm the SEC will do to every facet of the US crypto economy if it gets its way.”
XRP Price Reactions
Ripple appears to have a strong upper hand and could likely emerge victorious against the SEC. Despite this, Ripple’s native XRP cryptocurrency has remained mostly flat for the past month and is currently the sixth-largest crypto by market capitalization.
At the time of press, XRP was up a mere 1% on the day, trading near the $0.45 mark. It’s still down by nearly 90% from its all-time high of $3.40 in 2018.
Grayscale, one of the largest digital asset managers, even dumped over 9 million XRP (1/3 of its stake) amid the lawsuit.
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