The class-action lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission against Ripple has reached a crucial juncture. In today’s hearing, Judge Netburn granted SEC’s motion for additional depositions but denied a request for documents post-dating the complaints along with Ripple’s lobbying efforts. The judge made it clear that Ripple’s fair notice defense centers on the activities of the SEC – it’s not about Ripple’s knowledge or behavior. The judge said,

“Ripple focuses on the SEC’s failure to provide fair notice to the market about the Commission’s state of mind as to whether XRP qualified as security. It is not clear that such a defense even requires that a defendant act in good faith.”

The judge’s comments are significant and made it clear that the onus falls on the SEC as well. It shows that the SEC’s actions or failure to act could be brought into question for which they will be responsible for XRP.

#XRPCommunity #SEC_NEWS v. #Ripple #XRP Ripple files reply in further support of its Motion to Compel the SEC to turn over internal BTC, ETH and XRP documents, FinHub emails and OEIA documents. pic.twitter.com/k6aTCRPEAR

— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) June 14, 2021

Today’s ruling comes on the heels of the SEC being given a 60-day extension for the discovery deadline.

The SEC is on Trial as Well

The SEC vs Ripple case has taken many twists and turns since the filing in December last year. The SEC has made many amendments to their lawsuit since then and today’s ruling has put them under the scanner as well. The judge made it clear that if XRP qualified as security then the onus falls on SEC on why they didn’t take any actions earlier.

The court proceedings over the past 5 months have revealed that SEC ignored queries by exchanges since 2019, over the status of XRP. There were speculations that SEC would try to settle the case with Ripple but now it seems they would continue the court battle after gaining a 60-day extension.

About Author

Prashant Jha

An engineering graduate, Prashant focuses on UK and Indian markets. As a crypto-journalist, his interests lie in blockchain technology adoption across emerging economies.