US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs have filed a joint motion asking the Court of Appeals to pause the ongoing appeal proceeding. In the motion filed on April 10, the parties said this is necessary to finalize their agreement in principle.
According to the motion, both parties have agreed to resolve the underlying dispute behind the appeal and now need sufficient time to negotiate and get the SEC approval. The disputes to be resolved include the SEC appeal and Ripple cross-appeal.
The filing reads:
“There is good cause for the parties’ joint request that this Court put these appeals in abeyance. The parties have reached an agreement-in-principle, subject to Commission approval, to resolve the underlying case, the Commission’s appeal, and Ripple’s cross-appeal.”
Meanwhile, the parties noted that if the SEC approves the settlement, they will seek an indicative ruling from the District Court that initially sat on the case. They added that the pause in proceedings will conserve resources and ensure no parties suffer any damage.
According to pro-XRP lawyer James Filan, who shared the news, the decision to pause now means that Ripple is no longer obligated to file its response brief to the SEC appeal brief. The deadline for that brief was meant to be April 16.
Interestingly, parties asking for a stay on proceedings while negotiating a settlement with the SEC is not surprising. The regulator has already done the same for Binance and Gemini, and like in both cases, it is expected to provide a status report to the Court after 60 days, which is June 9.
Controversy follows joint motion as settlement now pending
The news of the pause on appeal by Ripple and SEC adds a new twist to the regulatory drama that has been on for over four years. While it marks progress and could see XRP status finally confirmed, it has also been controversial, particularly because initial announcements from the SEC and Ripple claimed the case had been settled and the lawsuit dropped.
Although many expect that the SEC will approve the settlement, the news that an SEC approval is pending has brought back some uncertainty about XRP’s status, which is impacting the token’s performance. The token, one of the highfliers earlier this year, is now down 14.21% year-to-date and has lost 4% in the last seven days.
Even without the motion, there is already some drama around the SEC lawsuit after one Justin Keener requested to present crucial evidence that could determine the lawsuit outcome. The person did not provide any information about the nature of the evidence, leading to speculations even as experts believe it is spam.
However, the SEC opposed Keener’s filing in a letter to Judge Analisa Torres, noting that the evidence relates to the court’s summary judgment and ruling on programmatic sales, which is already on appeal. Therefore, the Court cannot entertain any discussion on the matter again.
Meanwhile, some people in the XRP community believe the pause might be to allow Paul Atkins to assume the position of SEC chair before the commission decides to drop its biggest case against crypto. Atkins has already been confirmed by the Senate and will likely resume office soon.
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