Ripple’s struggle to defeat the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the long-running case first filed in December 2020 will continue into early 2023, according to an update shared by Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer.
The lawsuit centers on XRP, the cryptocurrency issued by Ripple Labs.
On December 22, 2020, the SEC announced that it had charged Ripple Labs Inc. and two top executives with conducting an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion. The regulator said the offering was “ongoing,” a reference the SEC has made to Ripple’s sales of XRP.
At its core, the SEC’s position is that XRP is a security. Ripple and its executives have strongly denied those allegations. The case has drawn widespread attention, including commentary from former SEC officials.
Impact on XRP holders
Saturday’s update from Alderoty and defense attorney James K. Filan indicates the case will require a full two years before it is resolved.
“It now appears the case will be resolved in 2023 — and every day that passes harms U.S. citizens who have effectively been the victims of a regulatory ‘rug pull’ by the SEC,” Alderoty said in a Twitter thread.
Filan noted the same timeline, tweeting that the SEC and Ripple have filed a joint scheduling letter proposing a timetable for resolving the case. According to the proposal, opening arguments for a decision on the briefs (a bench ruling without full trial) are suggested to begin in August.
That timeline also accounts for expert testimony and schedules closing arguments for “a few days before Christmas.”
Delay tactics by the SEC
Ripple’s agreement to the joint filing appears influenced by what it sees as repeated delay tactics from the SEC throughout the litigation. Those delays are a key reason XRP holders may have to wait a long time for a potential resolution.
Alderoty explained:
“To those asking if this is a joint filing — yes. But based on the SEC’s track record, if we did not agree to this, the next iteration would likely be even longer.”
To all that have been following the case thus far – thank you. Know that Ripple is pushing hard (and the Court is working hard) to resolve the case as soon as possible, despite the SEC time and again doing everything they can to delay. https://t.co/bP0shaNBOa
— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) April 22, 2022
As a result, the XRP community continues to wait, with investors feeling the effects of the prolonged legal fight.
XRP price today
At the time of this update, XRP was trading around $0.71, down nearly 2% over the prior 24 hours and approximately 40% below its April 2021 peak. The run toward a $2.00 high on April 14 marked the token’s best performance since its January 2018 all-time high of $3.40.
Cryptocurrency market capitalization has also contracted, pushing XRP from third place behind Bitcoin and Ethereum down to sixth, with a market cap of about $34.3 billion at the time of writing.