- Ripple Labs and its executives recently claimed another victory in the ongoing legal battle against the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
- Judge Sarah Netburn denied the SEC access to the personal banking information of Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen.
- Mike Novogratz suggests that the recent price increase in XRP may indicate a current settlement.
The XRP price has risen despite the ongoing $ 1.3 billion lawsuit filed by the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) against Ripple Labs.
Another legal win for Ripple
The U.S. SEC alleges that Ripple Labs and its executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, illegally sold XRP tokens as an unregistered security offering.
The charges left crypto exchanges to start delisting the sign, and the price of the digital currency across the border dropped after the announcement of the lawsuit.
So far, Ripple and his managers have been on the roll, as Judge Sarah Netburn has won another victory in the case. The judge granted the motion of the accused to deny the SEC access to Garlinghouse and Larsen’s personal financial information.
She added that obtaining this information was not relevant to the case, and that the SEC had not provided evidence that the two executives had hidden transactions.
Prior to the latest developments in the case, Judge Netburn also dropped a bomb statement in March, saying that XRP is a currency and useful. Shortly thereafter, Judge Analisa Torres granted XRP investors’ request, led by attorney John Deaton, to file a motion to intervene in the case.
Another major victory for the blockchain business was when Judge Netburn ruled in favor of giving Ripple Labs access to the SEC’s internal discussions on Bitcoin and Ethereum. This could allow Ripple to search for documents where XRP could be referred to by the regulator as a ‘virtual currency’, similar to the two largest cryptocurrencies.
Matthew Solomon, Garlinghouse’s adviser, said he believed it could be ‘game over’ for the whole affair if the defense were to find information that suggests the SEC believes XRP is like Bitcoin or Ether.
XRP price increases may indicate an ongoing settlement
As optimism for Ripple continues to grow, the XRP price has risen by more than 112% in the past week. Mike Digital, CEO of Galaxy Digital, claims that the XRP meeting could indicate that a settlement is underway between Ripple and the SEC.
According to the CEO of Galaxy Digital, as the company’s equity is trading in the secondary market at between $ 2 and $ 3 billion, he believes it is ‘crazy cheap’ when a settlement comes. However, if Ripple is not close to the SEC, XRP may be too expensive.
In response to Novogratz’s statements about a settlement, attorney Stephen Palley said there was no ‘public’ indication that a resolution would be forthcoming. Palley said:
I do not know how one can identify the price itself with settlement, unless someone has inside information about possible SEC settlement / solution and the ability to re-list exchanges for trading.
Although the legal battle between Ripple and the SEC is far from over, Andrew Hinkes, a lawyer and professor at the NYU, believes that Ripple’s legal victories so far have been significant. The most likely outcome, according to him, is a negotiated settlement.
Garglinghouse continues to hope that both parties can have a meaningful conversation once the U.S. Senate confirms the new SEC government.
XRP to continue its winning streak
XRP’s growing market sentiment may also be due to a rumor about Coinbase preparing for the reorientation of XRP. A community member indicated this after discovering some code rules in the Coinbase Pro API.
Since April 9, XRP has been trading steadily above $ 1, a level reached for the first time since 2018. The current XRP trading volume has surpassed the bull run from 2017 to 2018, which could push the XRP price up even further. During the bull run in 2017, when XRP traded at current levels, it took just under a week before the price reached its high of $ 3.32.