Marked as one of the most high-profile cases in the crypto industry, the lawsuit between Ripple and the regulatory watchdog, the SEC, has dragged on for almost four years now. Within this time, the case has reached several pivotal moments that have brought some form of clarity to the industry and some perceived “victory” among both entities.
Following a court’s ruling on the security classification of XRP, Judge Analisa Torres ordered the blockchain company to pay $125 million in civil penalty for offering XRP to institutional investors, breaking federal securities laws. The Judge also imposed an injunction on Ripple, forbidding it from further violating securities laws in the future.
Notably, the SEC and Ripple have shown intentions of challenging certain aspects of the court ruling by submitting their Form C (Civil Appeal Pre-Argument Statement) on October 18 and October 24 respectively. The SEC plans to contest the earlier sales of XRP by Ripple executives so that it should be classified as securities offerings. Ripple, on the other hand, challenged the specifics of “investment contracts,” and its XRP institutional sales.
Key Deadline and Expected Resolution Timeline
Following the Form C submission, the appellate court has ordered the SEC to submit its opening brief by January 15, 2025. Once submitted, both parties will exchange arguments over the following months which could take up the whole of the first half of 2025. The arguments could stretch until the second half of the same year, potentially prolonging the case resolution into 2026. With these outlined timeframes, the legal battle between both giants could be far from over.
