XRP Lawsuit: Ripple Aims For Ultimate Win As Case With The SEC Inches Towards The ‘End Game’

• Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have filed a joint proposal hinting at a speedy resolution of the case.
• The proposal was made to ensure easy and timely access to each party’s brief.
• The SEC and Ripple Labs have been at loggerheads since 2020 over the firm’s executives’ alleged sale of unregistered securities.

After months of legal drama, the saga between the SEC and Ripple Labs might be entering its closing stages as both parties have agreed to show each other their cards.

On Thursday, parties to the suit wrote a letter to Hon. Analisa Torres to seek the court’s approval on a joint proposal to regulate the upcoming summary judgment motions to be filed in the coming weeks. The SEC, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen agreed to the joint proposal with respect to the sealing issues ahead of the filing of summary judgment motions.

The request, if granted by the judge, will mean that both parties will have access to details of briefs and other previously unseen documents. The parties agree that redactions will be minimal, and upon approval, they will deliberate on a redaction schedule, if any.

The reasoning by the parties, according to the proposal, is to “ensure that all the sealing issues can be raised to the Court in one set of briefs instead of piecemeal, and to allow sufficient time for the Parties to meet and confer.”

The schedule to be adopted by the parties will begin with filing all materials under seal on Sept 1, including statements and supporting affidavits. On the 15th, both sides will meet to deliberate on the redactions each party will be looking to make, and on the 19th, the parties will “file public, redacted versions of briefs of the summary judgment motions.”

“Circle September 19 as the day we get to see (most of) the cards the parties are holding!” tweeted Jeremy Hogan, Partner at Hogan and Hogan. “The endgame. It’s getting me excited.”

Asides from the joint proposal, the court’s schedule stipulates that opening motions should be filed on Sept 13, while the opposition is expected to file theirs on Oct 18.

Some guiding principles must be followed, and redactions will generally be allowed to protect a trade secret or other confidential information. 

The end game is here

Since the start of the case, Ripple Labs have shot down rumours of a settlement with the SEC, insisting on slugging it out in court. However, some pundits have drawn inferences from the recent joint proposal as a sign that a settlement could be in the works. Others have claimed that a settlement would be seen as a loss for the SEC because of the precedents it would set for other projects in the space.

Both parties have scored small wins since the case began over 20 months ago. In July, XRP enthusiasts were elated over the decision of the trial judge to deny the SEC’s claim of attorney-client privilege over an ex-Commissioner’s 2018 speech that Ethereum was not a security.