There were speculations that the US SEC would agree to drop the Ripple lawsuit at the closed-door meeting held on July 10. With the meeting now over, there is little to suggest that the Commission discussed, with a former SEC lawyer also weighing in on what happened.
Ripple Lawsuit Still In The Balance Following SEC Meeting
The Ripple lawsuit still lingers following the closed-door SEC meeting on July 10, as the Commissioners have yet to decide on whether to drop the appeal. XRP community members had speculated that the SEC would vote at the meeting on whether to drop its appeal against the crypto firm.
However, even before the meeting, former SEC lawyer Marc Fagel had warned that it was unlikely the Ripple lawsuit would come up at this meeting. Based on the agenda, the Commission discussed matters relating to the institution and settlement of injunctive actions and administrative proceedings.
There were also discussions on the resolution of litigation claims and other matters relating to examinations and enforcement proceedings. In an X post, Fagel stated following the meeting that the SEC has yet to dismiss the Ripple lawsuit. He noted that there is a standard process the agency needs to follow.
The legal expert further remarked that this process typically takes a few weeks or more. Once the Commissioners approve to drop the appeal in the Ripple lawsuit, the SEC will file its dismissal papers, jointly with Ripple. The crypto firm already announced last month that it was dropping the cross-appeal against the agency.
Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, also stated that the SEC was expected to do the same based on the settlement agreement they had earlier in the year. A move from both parties to dismiss their respective appeals would finally bring an end to the nearly five-year legal battle in the Ripple lawsuit.
Voting Could Happen Faster Due To the Settlement Agreement
In another X post, Marc Fagel stated that it typically takes one to two months for the SEC to vote on an enforcement recommendation. However, he noted that it could be quicker here since they already voted to dismiss the appeal in the Ripple lawsuit once before. He clarified that this is in terms of the settlement agreement. As such, another vote could be more “perfunctory.”
Meanwhile, Fagel rebutted Brad Garlinghouse’s statement that his firm prevailed in the Ripple lawsuit over the SEC. He alluded to the fact that Judge Torres ruled that Ripple illegally raised hundreds of millions through unregistered securities sales. She also enjoined the firm from further violations of the law and ordered it to pay a monetary fine of $125 million.
At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $2.56, up over 5% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
