Stephen Palley, a popular virtual currency attorney with “extensive experience in resolving complex commercial disputes,” has weighed in on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs over the XRP token.
In a tweetstorm, the partner at Anderson Kill revealed he believes that Ripple quickly answered the SEC’s complaint, which shows the firm wants the legal battle to end as soon as possible. The fintech firm could have asked for another 30 days and filed a “nearly guaranteed to be denied motion to dismiss.”
Instead, Palley said, the move shows Ripple is looking for a fast resolution to the case. The lawyer added he believes the SEC has already fully laid out its case at this stage, as Daily Hodl reports:
Typically in civil litigation, you don’t get the other side’s documents until the case has progressed for a while. Here, SEC has presumably gotten all of the documents during the enforcement action, which is why the original complaint is so compliant.
He concluded this means the SEC “probably has all of the ‘bad documents’ and included them in the lawsuit. The lawyer added that Ripple may have a tough time arguing that its sales of the XRP token aren’t to be seen as an “offering,” and criticized some of its initial arguments claiming its answer to the SEC read like a press release.
Palley expects XRP trading to be reinstated on exchange across the U.S. after Ripple settles with the regulator.
As CryptoGlobe reported, earlier this month Joseph A. Hall, a former executive at the SEC, explained he believes there “is a good chance” the regulator loses its lawsuit against Ripple. While most cryptocurrency exchanges have delisted XRP over the lawsuit, some sided with the fintech firm.
Uphold, for example, pointed out that the SEC’s goal is to protect consumers, and believes it’s hard to see “how a judgment rendering XRP essentially worthless and inflicting billions of dollars of losses on retail investors” would square with that goal.
Ripple itself has argued the lawsuit “already affected countless innocent XRP retail holders with no connection to Ripple.” It added it “muddied the waters for exchanges, market makers, and traders.”
These arguments, Palley said, are likely not going to be enough in the case. Arguing XRP is regulated differently in other countries may also prove ineffective.
Featured image via Pixabay.
