The protracted legal tussle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs is reportedly approaching a conclusion. As per recent revelations by FOX Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, both parties are in the process of discussions related to the August district court decision. The report is based on information obtained from two sources privy to the evolving situation.
In the recent past, the SEC has retracted various lawsuits it had initiated against several cryptocurrency firms. These include high-profile names such as Coinbase, Gemini, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs, Kraken, and OpenSea. In another case, the securities watchdog and Consensys reached a mutual agreement to dismiss the securities enforcement case pertaining to MetaMask.
The saga involving Binance and the SEC saw a joint motion to temporarily suspend their ongoing litigation for a span of 60 days. The regulators also halted the civil fraud lawsuit against Justin Sun, with both parties reportedly in the process of working out a resolution.
However, the legal dispute between the SEC and Ripple Labs continues to drag on. The settlement talks have been delayed due to ongoing negotiations related to the terms of the August court decision. This ruling had ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million fine, alongside imposing a permanent injunction that prevents the company from selling its XRP to institutional investors.
Ripple’s argument centers around the premise that if the SEC’s new leadership is reconsidering its enforcement approach and permitting other crypto firms to start afresh, then it should not be compelled to accept penalties based on past regulatory ambiguity.
The absence of a clear precedent to handle such a situation has resulted in the resolution taking longer than initially expected.
This viewpoint has seen agreement from legal experts. In a statement shared earlier this month, James Murphy, a reputed crypto lawyer, speculated that the delay might not be solely attributable to the SEC. He suggested that Ripple is actively negotiating with the SEC, with the objective of getting certain components of Judge Torres’s August ruling overturned or modified.
According to Murphy, while the August ruling was largely perceived as a victory for XRP holders, it had two aspects that were problematic for Ripple. These included securities law violations (pertaining to institutional sales) and the injunction. These factors could potentially impede Ripple’s future plans, including its aspirations for a public market debut.
This ongoing legal saga continues to attract attention, with the ripple effects (no pun intended) of the final resolution likely to set a precedent for future regulatory actions against crypto firms.
