Ripple v. SEC court case update as of March 20, 2023

The crypto community is eagerly awaiting the possible summary judgment date in the Ripple lawsuit fronted by the Securities Exchanges Commission (SEC). As a recap, legal experts had speculated that the matter might be determined in the first quarter of 2023.

In the meantime, various legal practitioners are offering predictions regarding the possible outcome in the case and the judgment’s overall implication on the crypto space. Under the latest update, pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton in a tweet on March 19, has maintained that the controversial Hinman documents will be eventually made public despite the SEC’s objection.

According to Deaton, the documents relating to former SEC official William Hinman will be unsealed regardless of the decision by presiding judge Analisa Torres. He noted that the judge would rely on the documents to make her judgment and, in the process, declare them “judicial documents” and order them to be unsealed.

“Regarding the Hinman emails and speech drafts: the SEC has requested for them to remain sealed, even after Judge Torres’ ruling on summary judgment. I believe the emails and speech drafts will be made public at some point, regardless of Judge Torres’ decision on whether to seal,” he said.

Relevance of Hinman documents in other litigations

The attorney added that the documents are relevant because they might be required to be used in other litigations, such as the lawsuit against Dragonchain. Notably, Dragonchain is an ERC20 token governed by the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and has active litigation. In this regard, Deaton believes Dragonchain will seek to obtain the emails and drafts to build their defense.

Meanwhile, Deaton had earlier faulted the SEC for naming Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen in its lawsuit, terming it an ‘error.’ Deaton argued that the SEC ought to have concentrated its attention exclusively on Ripple, instead of going after individuals who were not directly accountable for the purported securities infringements.

Amid the speculations regarding the case’s outcome, Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty had welcomed the court’s ruling on the “Daubert” motions. In the ruling, the judge failed to grant and deny portions of each party’s motions in relation to striking out expert witnesses.

On the other hand, U.S. lawyer Jeremy Hogan had previously suggested that judge Torres may have already decided whether XRP is a security. As a reminder, the SEC is suing Ripple for selling XRP tokens without getting relevant approvals from the agency.

XRP price analysis

As the crypto community turns to focus on the case outcome, XRP continues to record gains aligning with the general market price movement. By press time, XRP was valued at $0.39 with daily gains of about 0.6%.

The token is currently controlling a market capitalization of about $19.55 billion. Overall, XRP has attracted increased capital inflow in the past week, with the value peaking at $20.3 billion on the weekly chart.

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