By
Temitope Olatunji
April 18th, 2024
Observers believe Wednesday’s XRP price pump indicates that Ripple has the upper hand in its ongoing litigation with the SEC.
Ripple native token XRP recently experienced an 8% price pump following a seemingly ‘favorable’ court ruling. The digital currency’s jump came after the presiding judge in the long-drawn-out Ripple vs SEC case denied a motion filed by the regulator.
Ripple’s XRP traded at 46 US cents at 12:45 pm Singapore time Wednesday. Furthermore, XRP’s recent price upswing marks the crypto’s highest climb in seven weeks. This is likely because investors interpreted Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling as favorable for Ripple.
XRP remains the sixth-largest digital currency in the world, with a market capitalization of approximately $24 billion.
Events Leading Up to XRP Price Pump
Yesterday, District Judge Torres rejected the Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion to seal the entire William Hinman documents. The District Court judge ruled that the documents regarding a June 2018 speech by the former SEC director are “relevant to the performance of the judicial function.” However, Judge Torres said she would allow the SEC to redact personal information mentioned in the documents.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York judge’s ruling referenced a similar ruling by a magistrate judge in the same court. In January last year, Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn first ruled that the Hinman Speech Documents be turned over to Ripple as part of the ongoing case. Presently, Judge Torres wrote:
“As Judge Netburn found in her order dated January 13, 2022, the Hinman Speech Documents are not protected by the deliberative process privilege because they do not relate to an agency position, decision, or policy. Therefore, sealing these documents would not be related to preserving ‘openness and candor’ within the agency, nor would such an interest be substantial enough to outweigh the strong presumption of public access.”
The Hinman documents refer to the former SEC Corporation Finance Director’s 2018 speech on crypto and securities to Ripple. At the time, Hinman described Ether (ETH) as a non-security and, therefore, not liable to be sealed in a court order. Hinman also added that Bitcoin (BTC) was “decentralized” (and thus, not a security). However, Hinman’s assessment went against statute standards that define securities.
SEC Case against Ripple Believed to Be Compromised by District Court Ruling
With Hinman’s previous stance in mind, Judge Torres’s ruling is a blow to the SEC’s protracted lawsuit against Ripple. Conversely, the ruling development could swing the tide in the remittance network’s favor as CEO Brad Garlinghouse looks forward to a conclusion. Garlinghouse recently tweeted about the SEC’s double standards regarding crypto designation. Furthermore, the CEO added that the securities regulator’s lack of clarity is hampering the crypto industry’s growth. Garlinghouse’s thread also echoed other crypto leaders’ sentiments that the SEC is having its way via enforcement actions. He believes all actions should follow established rules instead.
In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for failing to register XRP as a security. The regulator has long held onto its belief that most tokens are securities and thus fall under the same regulatory purview. Meanwhile, observers widely believe that the eventual outcome of the Ripple vs SEC case would have far-reaching implications for the US digital asset space.