Get set for a courtroom showdown in the second quarter of 2024 as judge Analisa Torres paves the way for a jury trial concerning the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) case against Ripple Labs. Ripple, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen will face their judgment day between April 1 and June 30 as affirmed by the judge.
Seeking a balanced calendar, the judge has asked both prosecutors and defense layers to submit their blackout dates by August 23. Judge Torres holds accolades for ruling that Ripple’s XRP token was not a security regarding programmatic sales on digital asset exchanges, marking a temporary triumph for Ripple in the ongoing legal wrangle.
However, Ripple, Garlinghouse, and Larsen are yet to escape legal pitfalls as they still stand a chance of being found liable for other violations beyond their digital token status. Torres’ decision on XRP echoed through the legal realm, serving as a reference point in Coinbase’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed against it by the SEC.
While Ripple wrestles with legal issues, its troubles have cast a long shadow over the digital currency market. The SEC lawsuit in December 2020 led many exchanges to abandon their association with XRP, fearing a legal backlash. Yet, the tide appears to be turning with a handful of firms reconvening their affinity for XRP following Torres’ ruling on July 13.
The current scenario exhibits varied adversities facing significant crypto players that extend far beyond Ripple. With civil cases against Coinbase and Binance and charges against the former CEOs of FTX (Sam Bankman-Fried) and Celsius Network (Alex Mashinsky), it’s clear that the world of cryptocurrencies remains a tense and legally-fraught landscape.