Again, the back and forth in the legal battle between the SEC and Ripple continues. Ripple lawyer James Filan in a tweet, revealed that Ripple had recorded another small win in their case as Judge Sarah Netburn has granted the company’s extension request.
The Legal Battle Drags On
According to a tweet from James Filan, Judge Netburn has granted Ripple’s request for additional time to respond to the SEC’s request to redact some information in its notes with third parties obtained during discovery. Ripple had initially made this request in a letter shared on Twitter by Filan on Saturday.
The “Text Only Order” from Judge Netburn rules that the SEC has till tomorrow to produce the redacted documents to Ripple, adding that Ripple had till the 4th of April to decide on a response. Notably, the SEC itself had filed for an extension last Thursday to effect these redactions.
The SEC as reported, plans to redact information in 4 documents comprising notes of meetings between SEC officials and third parties, citing Deliberative Process Privilege yet again. In the lawsuit, the SEC has continued to show its unwillingness to release documents as requested by the judge, leading one of Ripple’s Attornies, Jeremy Hogan, to reason that the SEC was planning a cover-up of something that could potentially hand over the victory to Ripple.
Ripple’s drawn-out battle with the SEC has been closely watched by the crypto community for over a year now. The suit came in at the end of 2020 when the SEC accused Ripple of offering unregistered security, XRP, to investors. However, Ripple argues that XRP was never classified as a security by the SEC.
Several legal analysts following the case have expressed confidence that Ripple would win the case, with many expecting the tussle to be over in the fall. Pundits have cited that the SEC may also pursue a settlement out of court to avoid releasing certain documents.
Gary Gensler-Led SEC VS The Blockchain Industry
The relationship between the Gary Gensler-led SEC and crypto executives over the last couple of years has been strained to say the least. Despite several verbal declarations by the SEC chair asking that the crypto execs communicate with the SEC to get clarity on issues, the actions of the SEC have continued to fail to reflect such a willingness to communicate.
Last year, COINBASE had to cancel the launch of Lend, a product offering passive income to customers on their crypto holdings, after threats of lawsuits from the SEC. Coinbase noted that efforts to understand the reason for these threats from the SEC were rebuffed. Notably, Coinbase would go on to launch a similar product in other markets, excluding the US, to avoid legal battles with the SEC.
The lack of regulatory clarity and consistency has been a cause for concern amongst industry players. Some have suggested that the inability of the US SEC to support crypto products approved elsewhere was stifling the growth of the blockchain industry in the country. However, Biden’s executive order has brought some hope that the US would achieve regulatory clarity regarding the crypto market.
