Ripple Submits Final Brief to Court in Lawsuit Against SEC

The protracted two-year legal battle between the SEC and Ripple appears to be nearing its conclusion, with Ripple filing its final brief in the lawsuit against the U.S. regulatory body over the weekend.

The high-profile cryptocurrency case involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple is approaching its climax. On December 2, both the SEC and Ripple submitted their edited responses to each other’s arguments to the court for summary judgment.

Ripple argued in its brief that the SEC had failed to prove that the distribution of XRP from 2013 to 2020 constituted an illegal securities offering. Ripple concluded the document by asserting that the court should accept the company's proposal and reject the SEC's requests.

Additionally, Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's General Counsel, clarified that this was the company’s final submission, reflecting its effort to secure a favorable judgment from the court.

“After a grueling two years, Ripple is proud of the defense we have mounted on behalf of the entire crypto industry. We have always been candid with the court. However, such candor cannot be extended to our adversaries.”

In a previous update on November 30, former federal prosecutor James Filan stated that only three issues remain to be resolved in the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit. These include motions for summary judgment, challenges, and sealing issues related to expert reports on documents from former SEC Director William Hinman and other materials that both the SEC and Ripple need to address.

Essentially, Hinman’s documents pertain to his statements during a June 2018 Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit, where he explicitly stated that Ethereum (ETH) was not a security.

Filan believes Judge Torres will not address these three major issues "individually" but will make a collective decision. A final written ruling could be issued when she decides on the summary judgment motions, potentially around March 31, 2023, or slightly earlier.

This news brings significant optimism to the XRP community and is not entirely surprising, given that both the SEC and Ripple showed increasing impatience for a decisive outcome just two months ago. Now, the focus is on the final execution of their legal strategies.