Ripple lawsuit schedule suggests Final Judgement in July

The SEC v. Ripple lawsuit is approaching the end. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has scheduled the completion of the remedies-related discovery by February 12, 2024.

By March 13, the SEC is expected to file its brief with respect to remedies, and Ripple Labs will do the same by April 12, with a possible plaintiff reply by April 29, thus ending the final briefs.

 

 

According to Jeremy Hogan, an attorney close to the XRP community, such scheduling of the final briefs, by April, would suggest that the final judegment will take place in July.

Hogan also praised the “TOP lawyers” hired by Ripple Labs for having whittled the case down to only 20% of what it used to be, including forcing the SEC to drop its claims against Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen.

“How much of it will be left in July??”, he rhetorically asked, suggesting that Ripple’s defense may successfully reduce the SEC’s claims even further.

The general feeling among the XRP community and Ripple executives is that the blockchain company is winning big. Earlier this month, Ripple’s CLO Stuart Alderoty hailed another loss for the SEC. “The 2d Circuit in SEC v Govil held that the SEC can’t ask for a crippling disgorgement award w/o first proving that “investors” suffered actual financial harm. In other words, no harm, no foul.”

On that, attorney John Deaton, representing the XRP Holders in the SEC v. Ripple case, reiterated that instead of a draw, Ripple is the clear winner of the lawsuit. “If Ripple ends up paying $20M or less it’s a 99.9% legal victory.”

iShares XRP Trust was a pump-and-dump scheme

In regard to XRP, its price has been trending upward, but a pump-and-dump scheme jittered the market. A filing for an “iShares XRP Trust” allegedly by BlackRock Inc. appeared on the Delaware Department of State’s Division of Corporations website, triggering a temporary surge in XRP’s price.

However, it soon became clear that BlackRock had not submitted the filing, as Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas and others debunked the rumor.

The false BlackRock XRP fund news was circulated by various media outlets and analysts, adding to the buying pressure on XRP. The misinformation, which used BlackRock executive names, led to a brief 7% increase in XRP’s value before it lost its gains.

In recent months, there has been speculation about BlackRock’s interest in cryptocurrencies, particularly XRP. Despite these rumors, BlackRock has maintained its focus on more established cryptocurrencies, filing for ETFs based on bitcoin and ether. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), however, has not approved any spot crypto ETFs yet, though it is considering several applications.

Additionally, BlackRock, known for its cautious approach in the crypto sector, is unlikely to create a high-risk product like an XRP ETF, especially considering XRP’s ongoing legal challenges with the SEC.