Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has expressed optimism about a potential resolution to the long-standing crypto lawsuit between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Garlinghouse predicts that the court battle, which commenced in December 2020, could conclude within a few weeks.
On REDeFiNE Tomorrow Virtual Summit, Garlinghouse said, “I am very confident we will see a decision in the courts this year and in fact, I would guess in weeks not months. There were some decisions last week that you may have read about. The judge ruled against the SEC’s effort to redact certain information about a very infamous speech that then director Hinman gave, talking about why ETH is not a security.”
The CEO added, “The courts just ruled last week that the notes and emails associated with that will be made public on June 13. I think that is a huge win for transparency. There hasn’t been clarity despite calls and demands from leaders across the industry. Ripple decided to lean in, fight this fight.”
On May 16, Judge Analisa Torres denied SEC’s request to seal internal documents related to William Hinman’s speech. The judge ruled that the documents were not protected by the deliberative process privilege as they did not pertain to an agency position, decision, or policy. The SEC claimed that the documents should be sealed due to their alleged lack of relevance to the summary judgment motions and the potential prejudice their disclosure could cause to the financial regulator.
In the XRP lawsuit, the U.S. SEC accused Chris Larsen and Garlinghouse of violating securities laws by selling XRP without proper registration. Ripple, on the other hand, argues that XRP is a digital currency and not a security.
