The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit lodged against Ripple in December 2020 is grabbing headlines, as today (Feb. 20) marks the deadline of the discovery phase.
A crypto pundit has suggested we could see a settlement in the Ripple vs. SEC case in April.
A Settlement On The Cards?
A member of the XRP community has shared a crucial update on the ongoing legal dispute between Ripple and the U.S. SEC to clear up “some misconceptions”.
Ashley Prosper observed that the discovery case in the XRP lawsuit was scheduled to end today. In the X post, Prosper captioned a court filing photo showing four important dates that the XRP community should look out for. The expert highlighted 4 key dates: February 20, March 13, April 12, and April 29. It’s pertinent to mention that today also marks the day Ripple is supposed to comply with the court order and hand over its audited financial statements and institutional sales contracts.
According to Prosper, the community will not have information on the material submitted by Ripple until the SEC files its remedies-related brief on March 13. But, she advised the XRPArmy not to expect much in that development.
Moreover, the analyst noted that the deadline for submitting final remedies is April 29, 2024. This is when the court is supposed to determine penalties for Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional customers. The securities regulator reportedly wants Ripple to pay a hefty $770 million for its securities violations.
Prosper rebutted claims that Judge Analisa Torres’s final verdict on the lawsuit is due in April. She will likely make her decision in July or August. However, the pundit claims that Judge Torres could “take until next year” to give her decision. At the moment, it is expected that the long drawn-out lawsuit will come to a conclusion in April. In Prosper’s opinion, this will only happen if the two parties reach a settlement.
XRP Price Action
Ripple, the fintech company whose founders created XRP, has had legal issues with the SEC since 2020. At the time, XRP was the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Ripple, however, notched a major victory against the Commission in July 2023, with Judge Torres ruling that the XRP token is not a security when it comes to programmatic sales to retail investors.
XRP climbed 6.5% in the past week. The coin was trading for $0.5614 per coin at publication time, according to data from CoinGecko. With a market cap of $30.6 billion, XRP is now the sixth-largest crypto.
It remains to be seen whether XRP has enough strength to further its upswing and even cross the $1 threshold at some point this year.
