Ripple has been fighting against the SEC in court since December 2020. Some analysts believe that the case could conclude this year, while others argue that each party could try to appeal the court’s decision. Whether the subject is finally settled, all believe the first verdict will provide essential guidance in the US judicial system. Should the SEC lose, then many other crypto projects could be strengthened. Winning the case could mean the SEC could go after many other cryptos.

What is the latest news regarding XRP and the fight Ripple vs. the SEC?

Hinman files are not under seal

The SEC argued that putting the files under seal would be necessary. Ex-Director Bill Hinman held a speech in 2018 and stated publicly that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities. The SEC argues that Ripple sold an unregistered security with XRP. Ripple, on the other hand, claims that statements like that from Bill Hinman gave no reason to believe that they were doing anything wrong.

This is why the speech and all related files became essential. The SEC already tried to prevent the Hinman speech from becoming part of the discovery, and needless to say, it failed to achieve that goal.

With the recent decision, the judge acknowledges that even though the Hinman files contain e-mails and internal communication of the SEC, they are still not under any special protection. They will now be unredacted and available to the public so that everyone can see how and why the court decided. However, the summary judgment still needs to be passed, and it could take longer until it is commenced.

LBRY wasn’t lucky

In another case that has drawn less public attention, LBRY lost its lawsuit against the SEC. The company behind the crypto project was sentenced to pay a fine of $22 million in February 2023. There is also some good news for LBRY since it recently decided to reduce the penalty by a landslide. But, of course, this is still a heavy burden.

The important thing that we can learn from the case is that Ripple hasn’t won yet. Even if a judge partially agrees with one of the parties, his summary judgment can reveal a very different result. Both cases are comparable because the SEC also argued in this case that LBRY was selling a security to the American public.

It remains to be seen if Ripple can escape such a fate since it would be crucial to the company’s advances in the US market.

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