‘Game Over’?: Ripple granted access to SEC internal discussions
Ripple Garlinghouse’s counsel Matthew Solomon believes that it could be “game over” for the whole case if the defense finds information suggesting the SEC thinks or thought XRP was akin to bitcoin or ether, which would be outside the scope of the SEC.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ruled in favor of granting Ripple Labs access to the SEC internal discussions over cryptocurrencies.
Ripple and its co-founders were charged with an unregistered sale of $1.38 billion worth of XRP, which the SEC claims to be a security.
“I’m going to grant in large part the defendants’ motion”, as Judge Netburn pointed to SEC minutes and memos “expressing the agency’s interpretation or views” on crypto as examples of documents that may be accessed by the defendants, Law360 reported.
Ripple Garlinghouse’s counsel Matthew Solomon believes that it could be “game over” for the whole case if the defense finds information suggesting the SEC thinks or thought XRP was akin to bitcoin or ether, which would be outside the scope of the SEC.
The defense team has frequently expressed frustration toward the SEC timing – enforcing this action eight years after events took place – and former SEC head Jay Clayton, who filed the complaint the day before leaving the post.
We are days ahead of Gary Gensler’s Senate confirmation vote to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This event may produce changes to the outcome of the SEC vs Ripple lawsuit.
Mr. Garlinghouse has recently told Bloomberg he is “hopeful with Gary Gensler and the new chair likely to be confirmed in a couple of weeks. There’s an opportunity to have a conversation with that new leadership as he brings his team in.”
Ripple’s co-founder also told CNN the firm could continue without XRP if need be. “We could do that. We’ve always thought about our product as ‘How do we solve a customer’s problem first and foremost?’”
He called the lawsuit “ironic” as it is based on the premise that Ripple illegally sold XRP as an unregistered security, although the regulator says the courts will ultimately determine the status of the crypto asset.
FinanceFeeds has recently reported on Attorney Jeremy Hogan’s comments regarding a recent court session, where the Judge dropped a “bombshell”.
