On October 19, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) withdrew a lawsuit against two executives of Ripple Labs: CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chair Chris Larsen. The text of the document shows that they were not "aided and abetted" in Ripple Labs' violations.
However, this is not a complete victory for Ripple; the regulator still has claims against the company. The value of XRP, like rates of most coins, reacted with growth.
This is just part of a long history of litigation between the SEC and Ripple Labs, which was continued in July this year after a new milestone in the case related to Ripple Labs' partial victory.
Which lawsuit against Ripple had SEC withdrawn
On December 22, 2020, the SEC accused Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of the XRP token, which the regulator believes is an unregistered security.
Status of cryptocurrencies in the US is very important for the market. In fact, it is the answer to the question of which body will supervise this sphere. Read more in our article Crypto: security or commodity?
The proceedings can be divided into two parts: against Ripple Labs and its executives. Yesterday, the SEC withdrew the lawsuit regarding the second part of this long-running lawsuit.
By the way, if you are not familiar with the Ripple project, read our material: Exploring Ripple: Is XRP worth investing in?
What happened now and what to expect
Thus, on October 19, the SEC decided to drop the charges against Ripple Labsโ executives. However, the case over the sale of XRP tokens to institutional investors still continues.
The regulator has neither provided the reasons behind its decision nor does it give any separate comments in the media. The text of the document can be found here.
Katherine Kirkpatrick, the chief legal officer of Cboe Digital (Chicago Board Options Exchange), believes this move allows the watchdog to start appealing the court decision on XRP as a security earlier.
Otherwise, the Commission would have had to wait for a decision on the lawsuit, and the appeal would have been delayed. The SEC intends to submit its proposals for changes to the court schedule by November 9.
How Ripple Labs representatives reacted on lawsuit withdrawal
Stuart Alderoty, Chief Legal Officer of Ripple Labs, called it "surrender by the SEC". Brad Garlinghouse retweeted the post and said that this was the third consecutive win over the watchdog.
He probably meant the summer partial victory for Ripple, the court's dismissal of the interlocutory appeal earlier this month, and yesterday's discharge of the lawsuit.
Chris Larsen noted that the case against Ripple results in "the US actively demolishing its global standing as the home for innovation."
Market reaction on Rippleโs third partial victory
As in the case of the partial victory in July, the market reacted with a wild rise.
XRP pumped from $0.488 to $0.53 at one point. The coin's price is now around $0.523.
Bitcoin has reached $30,200 today. However, the coin failed to consolidate above this level. Now, the price stands at around $29,600.
Back in July, after the 1st partial victory, the crypto rates had also reacted with a spike. Nonetheless, they returned to their pre-news levels in a little over a month. This can be seen, for example, in the daily chart of XRP below.
Follow our socials to be aware of all the news regarding this case and other important events from the crypto world!
๐ Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
You might also like:
Crypto: security or commodity?
Exploring Ripple: is XRP worth investing in?
