Ripple Says SEC Suffered Setback in XRP Lawsuit, Predicts When Summary Judgment Will Be Delivered

Ripple says that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently suffered a setback in the lawsuit that the markets regulator filed against the payments firm alleging XRP to be an unregistered security.

In its XRP markets report for the first quarter of 2023, Ripple says that testimonies from some of the SEC’s experts were struck out from the court record in an opinion delivered by the lawsuit’s presiding Judge, Analisa Torres, last month.

“On March 6th, the Court issued a 57-page opinion deciding which opinions of the SEC’s and Ripple’s experts can be considered on summary judgment (and, if needed, at trial) and which opinions need to be ‘stricken.’ Specifically, the SEC’s expert’s testimony regarding the ‘reasonable expectations of an XRP purchaser’ was struck from the record, along with their expert who attempted to determine what ’caused’ the price of XRP to change.”

On when the summary judgment is likely to be delivered, the payments company says:

“Ripple expects a decision on summary judgment in 2023 though timing is ultimately up to the Court.”

Reacting to the rejection of SEC’s expert testimonies while retaining Ripple’s own, the payments firm’s general counsel, Stuart Alderoty, last month said that Judge Torres’ opinion had boosted confidence in their case.

“On the flip side – our experts that explain how Ripple’s contracts clearly differ from those in ‘Howey,’ tax treatment of XRP (not a security), accounting treatment of XRP (not a security), and currency experts on XRP (not a security) are all allowed to stay in.

As we have said throughout, we have always felt confident about our case and with each ruling, even more so.”

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