Ripple vs. SEC: Will They Finally Call a Timeout? 🤔

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In Brief

  • John Reed Stark, a former SEC employee, hints that the Commission might soon hit the brakes on the Ripple appeal, thanks to some recent agreements and a bit of internal shuffling.
  • Attorney Jeremy Hogan muses that the legal fracas with Ripple could wrap up before we see a spot XRP ETF, with firms like Grayscale and Bitwise already sharpening their pencils for this investment product.

Is Something Big on the Horizon?

The legal skirmish between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dragged on for over four years, much like a tedious novel that one cannot put down, yet wishes fervently to do so. However, recent developments suggest that a resolution may be nigh, or at least, one can hope.

According to John Reed Stark, a former director of the SEC Internet Enforcement Office, the regulatory body might soon decide to pause all crypto-related appeals. His prediction is based on a few intriguing factors, including a rather cozy agreement between the Commission and Binance. Ah, the sweet scent of compromise!

Earlier this month, the two parties requested the magistrates to hit the pause button on their lawsuit for a delightful 60 days. Following this, they plan to submit a joint status report to determine whether an extension of this stay is warranted. Because who doesn’t love a good cliffhanger?

“I expect we’ll see other non-fraud cases (i.e., Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, and others) follow suit in this manner,” mused Eleanor Terrett, a journalist at Fox Business, as if she were predicting the next season of a soap opera.

Stark further claimed that some changes within the SEC’s management team suggest that the appeal against Ripple could be paused or even withdrawn entirely. One might recall that the regulator recently transferred one of its top crypto litigators, Jorge Tenreiro, to the computer systems department. Yes, because nothing says “we’re serious about crypto” like sending your top lawyer to fix the printer.

Tenreiro, who joined the agency over a decade ago, had climbed the ranks to become Chief Litigation Counsel by 2024. He was the one who signed the SEC’s notice of appeal in its case against Ripple. Quite the plot twist, wouldn’t you say?

“Yet, this SEC trial lawyer, who championed the victories of Coinbase and Binance, is now glaringly absent from both the Coinbase and Binance pleadings, ordered to pack his pencils and legal pads and transfer to the SEC’s IT department,” Stark quipped, as if he were narrating a tragicomedy.

When Might We See a Settlement?

Stark is not alone in his musings about the future of the Ripple v. SEC saga. Last week, the ever-popular attorney Jeremy Hogan suggested that the final outcome of the lawsuit is more likely to arrive before the potential approval of a spot XRP ETF in the US. A curious sequence of events, indeed!

“Not because it has to happen in that order, but because the ETFs will just take longer to dot the i’s and cross the t’s,” he opined, as if he were discussing the intricacies of a fine wine rather than a legal battle.

Some companies have already revealed their plans to introduce such an investment vehicle, including Grayscale, WisdomTree, Bitwise, 21Shares, and others. According to Polymarket, the odds of SEC approval before the end of 2025 stand at a staggering 78%. One can only hope that the SEC’s decision-making process is swifter than a tortoise on a leisurely stroll.

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2025-02-18 16:34