The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has made a “big mistake” in its lawsuit against Ripple and two of its executives over the $XRP token, according to crypto legal expert Jeremy Hogan.

In a newly published video, first spotted by Daily Hodl, Hogan weighed in on the lawsuit’s recent developments which have centered on former SEC Director William Hinman suggesting in 2018 that Ethereum ($ETH) was not a security.

Federal judge Sarah Netburn has initially ordered the SEC to produce emails relating to Hinman’s speech on it, but the SEC challenged that order. The challenge was struct down, with the SEC later requesting more time to file an objection against the judge’s decision to overrule their challenge.

To Hogan, the SEC’s “big mistake” was using two different strategies to argue against Hinman saying TH was not a security, as it’s “important to stick with your theory in litigation.” Per the legal expert, if the SEC was “going to make the gambit that it was Hinman’s personal opinion, you have to stick with that.”

Hinman’s speech was, “at least for discovery purposes,” ruled as personal opinion, which was a trade-off as it “now hurts the SEC in those discovery motions.” Nevertheless, Hogan said, the SEC’s attorney also said the purpose of the speech was to provide market guidance on how the regulator would treat digital assets.

These remarks, Hogan added, put the “Hinman speech back into play as market guidance and puts it back into relevance.” As CryptoGlobe reported, Hogan has in the past suggested that Ripple settling with the SEC could lead to an XRP supply shock, which presumably would lead to a price surge.

The SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple and two of its executives alleges they “raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.” 

A panel of cryptocurrency industry experts has predicted that the price of XRP will hit $2.55 by the end of the year, and sees it go as high as $3.61 by the end of 2025, and $4.98 by the end of 2030 if the lawsuit is settled.

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Featured image via Pixabay