Major Ripple v SEC Lawsuit Development: The Regulator Strikes Back

TL;DR

Additional Confrontation

Last week, Judge Amy Jackson dismissed the US SEC’s claims that secondary market sales of Binance’s BNB token constituted securities transactions. The magistrate’s decision caught the eye of Ripple, which intended to use it in its favor.

Specifically, the company filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority, arguing that the ruling supports its case that the alleged illegal sales of XRP do not warrant “harsh remedies” (as the agency claims).

“This observation supports Ripple’s argument that providing clarity on the legality of the different types of sales of XRP was the most significant aspect of the Court’s summary judgment decision…

The lack of regulatory clarity prior to that ruling, in turn, supports Ripple’s position that the Court’s finding of a strict liability violation on some of Ripple’s sales – but far fewer than the SEC alleged were violations – does not reflect reckless disregard for the law or warrant harsh remedies. And, of course, the SEC did not even allege recklessness as to Ripple in its Complaint,” the letter reads.

America’s securities regulator did not leave things unattended, filing an official response on July 3. According to the Commission, the case against Binance is “wholly irrelevant” to the one against Ripple:

“Ripple highlights one observation in the nearly 90 pages of the Binance ruling, and tries to extrapolate from that general observation about the efficiency of the SEC’s litigation strategy… The Court’s observations on a motion to dismiss about the SEC’s actions says nothing at all about Ripple’s conduct or the remedies that are proper for the violations this Court found.”

XRP Price Outlook

Developments surrounding the lengthy lawsuit between Ripple and the SEC have often triggered volatility for XRP. For example, the asset’s price exploded by over 70% last summer when Judge Torres ruled that the company’s programmatic sales to secondary trading platforms do not constitute offers of investment contracts.

XRP’s valuation has tanked substantially following the latest advancements on the case, currently trading at a multi-month low of $0.45 (per CoinGecko’s data), a 7% decline on a daily scale.

Its pullback coincides with an overall market correction. As CryptoPotato reported, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed to $57,000 for the first time since early May, while Ethereum (ETH) tumbled to $3,100. This resulted in $260 million in liquidations, with long positions accounting for around 90% of the share.

Those willing to learn more about the Ripple v SEC case and check how its outcome may impact XRP’s price, feel free to take a look at our dedicated video below: