U.S. Court Rejects SEC Objection In Ripple Lawsuit - How Can SEC Turn The Tables?

$XRP, Ripple's native token, has entered the daily top gainner with over 20% growth in just 24 hours. This sudden increase is explained by the developments against the SEC surrounding the $1.3 billion lawsuit between this organization and Ripple.

The verdict behind the pump

According to the latest update, on September 29, U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres ordered the SEC to release documents written by former SEC Director of Finance William Hinman during the Yahoo Finance All Markets Conference in June 2018. In his speech at the time, he stated that Ethereum is not considered a security because of the effective decentralization that this ecosystem offers - this is the key point that Ripple has been looking for all this time, while the SEC tried for months to refuse the release of this information.

Ripple's defence is based on the argument that if Ether was not security at the time, why was XRP included in this category? Ripple believes the emails contain important evidence that helps shed light on why the SEC has a positive view of Bitcoin and Ethereum while rejecting the rest.

In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple as well as the two former and current CEOs, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, alleging that the company and its executives violated securities laws in 2013 when they sought to raise funds from the sale of XRP for hundreds of millions of dollars without registering with the authorities.

From the SEC's perspective, the organization considers that this draft document is for internal purposes only and is therefore not relevant to the current lawsuit. Even if related, the above documents are protected by the DPP (Deliberate Process Privilege - a provision that allows organisations to refuse disclosure of inside information during litigation). However, the judge rejected this argument and said that this is only Hinman's personal opinion and does not belong to any "form of organization, decision or policy" ⇒ They are not organizational documents so can legally be published.

In the hours following the decision, with the price of XRP rising more than 20%, to $0.51, Ripple's supporters hailed the ruling as a major victory not only for the company in its lawsuit against the SEC, but also for the crypto industry at large in the broader battle against government regulation.

Can the SEC reverse this situation?

In general, the current trial is somewhat unfavourable for the SEC, although there is still a probability that the SEC may not be severely affected by the above ruling. Why so?

Firstly, it must be noted that the reason Ripple is allowed access to the above documents is that it is "the personal opinion of Hinman, not in the form of any organization, decision or policy, and therefore cannot be protected by DPP". This is a double-edged sword because it could undermine the legal potential that can be exploited from that statement ⇒ Not representing the SEC, can the correlation be linked to this lawsuit?

Second, we still don't know for sure whether the language presented in the speech is meant to serve as proof as Ripple desires.

So even if the documents are made public, the case can still receive new unexpected details.

Summary

The 2-year-long lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple has attracted the attention of the entire crypto community in particular, and the traditional financial market in general because the final outcome will shape a new future -  The SEC loses some power or legitimacy will become more closely tied to the cryptocurrency market.

From an investment perspective, in the short term, $XRP will still react to the course of this lawsuit. Holdstation will continue to update as new information becomes available.

Read more: What Is Ripple (XRP)? Full Story Why Pump And Expectations?