Ripple Vs SEC: Judge Sets Schedule For Discovery And Briefing, What This Means

The XRP court case may be seeing an end soon as Judge Torres has officially scheduled dates for remedies discovery and briefing between Ripple Labs and the US SEC. 

Ripple Lawsuit Enters Remedies Discovery Phase

United States District Judge Analisa Torres has set dates for remedies discovery and briefing in the lawsuit between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple. 

The court filing issued on November 13 was a response to the letter sent by the US SEC on November 9. The contents of the letter showed the SEC dismissing its case against Ripple’s top executives, Bradley Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. 

Judge Torres has officially signed the order for the remedies discovery and briefing and has scheduled the first court appearance on February 12, 2024. The two parties are expected to complete all remedies-related discoveries on the said date.

On March 13, the filing stated that the plaintiff will file its brief in accordance with the remedies, while XRP the defendant will file its opposition on April 12. The court case will then move on to April 29 where the Plaintiff would be allowed to file a response to the defendant’s opposition. 

This means that the courts are looking to put an end to the legal battle between the US SEC and XRP that has dragged on for years. The XRP community and the broader crypto space are presently looking forward to the results of the court case regarding the remedies and discovery briefing next year. 

Court Case Sparks Continuous Debate

The case between XRP and the US SEC has sparked several discussions and debates on X (formerly Twitter). An Australian-based lawyer and digital asset enthusiast, Bill Morgan has expressed his opinion of the Ripple vs SEC case in a series of posts on X. 

Arguing with several Bitcoin Maxis and critics, Morgan revealed that Judge Analisa Torres may have given the XRP community a significant advantage against Bitcoin Maxis by examining the XRP token under the Howey test. 

“In adding this analysis of the token the Judge inadvertently gave the XRP community a weapon against Bitcoin maxis who say everything but Bitcoin is a security and an argument against those who want to muddy the waters about the Judge’s finding on what XRP is,” Morgan stated.

The series of discussions started after an X account, ScamDaddy, had stated that Judge Torres had not provided clarity on XRP’s identity as a commodity or security.

Morgan went on to clarify the crypto community member’s claims by highlighting the US District Judge’s ruling which stated that programmatic sales of XRP were not considered a security.

Morgan stated:

In the very first paragraph of her analysis of the XRP token, the judge differentiated the underlying token from the contract, transaction, or scheme by which it is sold stating that the ‘subject’ (the thing being sold) is “not necessarily a security.” She then gives a list of tangible and intangible assets and states that in each of the examples she gives “the subject of the investment contract was a standalone commodity, which was not itself inherently an investment contract.”

XRP descends to $0.66 | Source: XRPUSD on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Fox Business, chart from Tradingview.com