Pro-XRP attorney Fred Rispoli, founder of HODL Law, made a stunning prediction on X regarding a potential verdict in the Ripple vs. SEC case. Rispoli noted a recent filing, specifically Ripple’s Additional Authorization Notice regarding the recent Binance decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The court’s decision in the Binance case of June 28, 2024, governed that the SEC had failed to adequately demonstrate that secondary market transactions in BNB tokens constituted securities transactions. This is particularly relevant to Ripple, as it draws parallels to its own legal challenges.
Will the XRP trial be over by the end of July?
In his post X, Rispoli note“I just received notice of the filing in the SEC vs. Ripple case and my heart skipped a beat… but don’t worry, no decision has been issued yet. This was Ripple’s notice to Judge Torres regarding Binance’s decision last week.”
Ripple argued that, as in the Binance case, transactions involving XRP tokens on secondary markets do not meet the criteria of securities transactions under U.S. law. This defense relies on the application of the “Howey test”, a legal test used to determine whether certain transactions qualify as investment contracts.
In a conversation with Crypto Moon Amsterdam, Rispoli was asked about his expectations for the timing of the decision. He replied:
July 31st, although I could see it being July 13th to be poetic.
This comment refers to the important date of July 13, marking the anniversary of a crucial 2023 summary judgment by Judge Torres that declared XRP not a security, which significantly influenced the market price of the digital asset, leading to a dramatic increase within hours of the announcement.
The shift from debating XRP’s security status to discussing the financial penalties Ripple faces marks a critical shift in the focus of the trial. SEC Requests Sanctions The amount requested is $2 billion. However, after several legal skirmishes, the SEC significantly reduced its demand to $102 million, a figure that Ripple still finds unacceptable.
Rispoli had previously raised the possibility of a pretrial settlement, noting: “A pretrial settlement is unlikely, although some unresolved arguments could still be negotiated.”
He also has speculated Regarding the potential penalty for Ripple, “Less than $25 million penalty; $0 restitution. The judge ruled that all sales she found illegal are permanently enjoined and that all “new” contracts referenced by Ripple are not properly submitted to her, so the SEC will have to file a new lawsuit if it finds that they violate her order.”
The price of XRP was not affected by the news. The digital asset has been moving in line with the general trend of the cryptocurrency market over the past 24 hours. XRP is down slightly by -2.6% over the past 24 hours, accompanied by a 24% increase in trading volume.
At press time, XRP was trading at $0.4764.
Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com
