XRP Lawsuit: SEC v. Ripple Case Likely To Conclude By April, Legal Expert Says — Here’s How It Could Finally Play Out

Original author: Brenda Ngari

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The breathtaking case between the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and payments firm Ripple over the XRP cryptocurrency is finally nearing its end, according to attorney Jeremy Hogan. 

SEC Suit Could End In April 2022

Jeremy Hogan, a renowned lawyer within the XRP community, has given an estimate on when the long-standing SEC v. Ripple legal battle is likely to end. When asked for his honest opinion regarding when the case could be over, Hogan indicated that the probability of it being prolonged past summer is quite low — even in the worst-case scenario. 

For him, April is the best estimate for the conclusion of the lawsuit. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse previously predicted that the feud with the SEC could be over in 2022. Speaking to CNBC in November, Garlinghouse pointed out the impressive progress made so far “despite a slow-moving judicial process.”

The SEC initiated the case back in December 2020, arguing that XRP — Ripple’s native currency utilized by the firm and other payments companies on an open-sourced decentralized ledger — has been an unregistered security in violation of U.S. investments law ever since it was launched in 2013, and Ripple execs, as well as investors, should have been aware of it.

The action sent XRP plummeting and torpedoed Ripple’s high-profile partnerships. Case in point, the blockbuster partnership with money transfer services company MoneyGram ended in early March.

How Is This Courtroom Drama Going To Play Out For Ripple And SEC?

With legal expert Hogan estimating April 2022 for the resolution of the lawsuit, the question we’ll be asking between now and April is how will all this play out for the two parties involved?

So far, Ripple has scored several key victories in court. In July, Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ruled that Ripple can depose the former director of the SEC’s division of corporate finance, William H. Hinman.

Moreover, Ripple chief Brad Garlinghouse recently noted during the one-year anniversary of the lawsuit that the company has managed to post its strongest year yet despite the legal drama.

Expert discovery is scheduled to close by January 14, but the legal team for the SEC and Ripple jointly filed a motion on Dec. 10, requesting the court to allow the final expert deposition on January 19, 2022.

A win for Ripple will undoubtedly deal a blow to SEC’s frustrating charade that the agency has termed “regulatory clarity”. The U.S. regulator will thereafter be forced to provide clear, unambiguous guidance to companies in the blockchain industry other than just bringing forward lawsuits.