Ripple Believes SEC Will Drop Lawsuit

Ripple’s legal team told Fox Business it has no plans to settle the lawsuit with the US SEC. Journalist Charles Gasparino reported. He tweeted Friday:

Ripple’s Legal Team Tells Fox Business They Have No Plans To… to settle a lawsuit over XRP with SEC. They are confident they can show Gary Gensler that in pursuing the case, he picks winners and losers in the crypto business at the expense of innovation.

No plans to settle with SEC, Ripple . legal team says

Last December, the SEC sued Ripple Labs, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen for illegally selling XRP tokens.

In January, Garlinghouse was asked why Ripple has not reached a settlement with the SEC. He replied: “Can’t go into details, but know we’ve tried. We will continue to try with the new administration to resolve this in a way that will allow the XRP community to continue to innovate, protect consumers and maintain orderly markets.”

Now Ripple’s team seems to be different. They no longer go for a settlement, but purely for a win. However, according to lawyer Jeremy Hogan, Ripple’s statement could also just be a boast. According to him, saying that you are going for a settlement is a sign of weakness.

Gensler on innovation and crypto

Supporters of Ripple and XRP hope the SEC chairman named Gary Gensler would dismiss the XRP lawsuit. They believe there was a conflict of interest with former SEC chairman Jay Clayton. In August, an audit committee began investigating the circumstances surrounding the XRP lawsuit involving Clayton and senior SEC official William Hinman.

Gensler has shown that he recognizes innovation. During a hearing of the US Senate Banking Committee last week, Senator Cynthia Lummis asked him, “Do you support responsible innovation?” Gensler immediately replied, “Oh my god, yes. I mean, it got us these lights in the room. It has brought us this ability to create a hybrid hearing with your these members. Innovation is what supports access and economic activity and thus gives many of us better opportunities in life.”

The SEC chairman has also said that Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation is of real value. “His innovation has spurred the development of crypto assets and the underlying blockchain technology,” Gensler said. He added that “it has been and could continue to be a catalyst for change in finance and money.”

The changed position of Ripple to no longer bet on a settlement is therefore perhaps not so crazy after all.