Ripple Labs is presently embroiled in a lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It’s defending against an August 7 judgement requiring them to remit a $125 million to the SEC. On September 4, Ripple lawyers submitted a request to the US District Court in the Southern District of New York to postpone the enforcement of this payment.
Introducing a condition to the postponement, Ripple proposed depositing approximately 111% of the litigation amount — equating to roughly $139 million — into a bank account. This postponement will last until the expiration of the statutory period for filing an appeal, or until an eventual appeal is settled.
The move sparks speculation about the SEC potentially preparing to appeal against the decision. Around the time of the August 7 judgement, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, tagged the decision a “triumph for Ripple.” In the same spirit, Ripple’s principal legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, added that the business would “acknowledge the $125 million fine.”
However, the proposed postponement awaits the approval of Judge Analisa Torres overseeing the litigation between the SEC and Ripple. If granted, it could insinuate that the case, filed first in December 2020, is far from being over because both parties have the right to appeal within 60 days, as stipulated by court protocols.
The SEC had previously accused Ripple of using its digital currency, XRP, valued presently at $0.56, as an unregistered security to raise capital. Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chair, Chris Larsen were the initial targets of the accusation. In a significant development for the business, Judge Torres established that XRP could not be categorized as a security regarding its programmatic sales on exchanges in July 2023. Over the last 30 days, the price of XRP has increased about 0.15%.