The multi-year lawsuit between the U.S. SEC and Ripple could be approaching its highly anticipated conclusion.
Leading crypto payments company Ripple has endured a lengthy lawsuit from the SEC. The securities regulator introduced the lawsuit in December 2020, alleging that Ripple violated the law by raising $1.3 billion through its XRP sales to retail and institutional clients.
More than four years down the line, the lawsuit is still ongoing. The SEC is seeking to overturn a New York federal court ruling that declared Ripple’s XRP sales on digital exchanges as non-investment contracts.
Before the appeal, speculations suggested that the SEC’s appeal against Ripple’s victory could take another two years. This could potentially extend the timeline for the lawsuit’s resolution to around 2026.
End in Sight for SEC v. Ripple
However, recent developments in the SEC’s case against Binance have triggered speculations that the Ripple lawsuit could be concluded soon.
Binance and the SEC filed a joint motion, asking the court to stay (pause) the litigation’s proceeding for 60 days. The parties indicated that the stay is in the interest of the judicial economy, as the SEC’s newly launched Crypto Task Force could impact the outcome of the lawsuit.
Furthermore, they suggested that the stay period could be an avenue for exploring an early resolution of the lawsuit. They promised to provide a report after the stay to determine whether to extend the pause.
Following this development, many speculated that the SEC could also make a similar request in the Ripple case. Prominent legal expert James Murphy (a.k.a. MetaLawMan) shed light on the potential reason behind the stay request.
According to him, SEC Acting Chair Mark Uyeda and the Crypto Task Force Head Hester Peirce are strategically delaying the commission’s enforcement actions against crypto businesses.
He suggested that pausing the Binance lawsuit for 60 days might enable Uyeda and Peirce to wait until the U.S. Senate confirms pro-crypto advocate Paul Atkins as the agency’s permanent Chair before they can dismiss all crypto-related lawsuits, including the Ripple case.
Senate Yet to Schedule Atkins Screening Hearing
In the meantime, Atkins is stuck in Senate Limbo due to a backlog of confirmation hearings. As of this week, nine prospective cabinet members under Trump’s administration are ahead of Atkins for screening.
Interestingly, the U.S. Senate has not even scheduled when Atkins will be screened. Nonetheless, sources suggest that this could happen soon. Whether the screening will happen before the requested stay expires in the Binance case remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, crypto pundits believe this delay negatively affects Trump’s crypto-friendly agenda, which relies on Atkins’ leadership at the SEC.
If the U.S. Senate confirms Atkins, there is a likelihood that he might revisit most of the non-fraud cases against crypto firms, including Ripple, and determine whether to dismiss or settle with the parties.
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