The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been given until February 17 to appeal a federal judge’s earlier decision that the defendant Ripple Labs hand over certain sensitive government papers in the agency’s complaint alleging the XRP coin is an unregistered security.
After U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn ordered the SEC to turn over documents, including notes of private SEC meetings with third parties over Ethereum and the draft of a controversial 2018 speech by then-director William Hinman declaring Bitcoin and Ether were not securities, Ripple and XRP investors thought they had won a legal battle.
The SEC, on the other hand, resisted by requesting extra time to challenge the disclosure order. Then, and Netburn is now giving the agency nearly four weeks to do so.
In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs and two top executives. Then, alleging that the company’s sale of XRP was an unregistered securities offering valued over US$1.38 billion.
The San Francisco-based payments technology company claims that the SEC failed to offer
“fair notice” that the XRP cryptocurrency will be treated differently than Bitcoin and Ether.
The SEC v. Ripple litigation is being keenly followed for its potential to legally define XRP and many other cryptocurrencies. Also, as the United States and many other countries around the world are still building a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
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