The SEC Granted Extension To Hand Documents To Ripple

The defendants in the Ripple case have answered the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent motion with a stall tactic to avoid turning over the documents. The SEC filed a motion to overturn Judge Sarah Netburn’s decision that several key documents could not be shielded by Deliberative Process Privilege (DPP) and had to be turned over to Ripple.

The highly contentious emails containing the draft of Bill Hinman’s speech that was circulated within the commission, known as entry 9 in the context of the case, are the aspect of the ruling that the SEC most strongly opposed in the motion filed. The SEC’s motion requested that the court grant it more time to present supporting documents demonstrating that the aforementioned emails were deliberate.

If the SEC is granted an extension of time to file a motion for reconsideration of the recent deliberative process finding, Ripple will file a motion with the court requesting that it deny the SEC’s request.

The SEC asserts that, if the requested relief is granted, it will have no effect on any current deadlines. It has been reported by U.Today that the discovery deadline has been moved up to February 18.

Finance Feeds sums up Ripple’s response well:

Also commenting on the SEC’s unexpected move was David Schwartz, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple Labs. “I choked on my Diet Coke as I read this”, sharing a photo of one specific paragraph.

“The SEC respectfully submits that these additional documents clarify the truly deliberative nature of the discussions surrounding the Speech across the SEC, and show that the Speech was not “merely peripheral to actual policy formulation”, but was in fact an “essential link” in the SEC’s deliberative process with respect to Ether” and other digital assets. The SEC, therefore, seeks leave to submit for in-camera review the entire set of the 66 documents…”

The whole SEC v. Ripple lawsuit has been baffling executives, law experts, investors, lawmakers, and some regulators ever since it started. This move opens a new chapter as the SEC seems to be looking to have it both ways.

I choked on my Diet Coke as I read this. pic.twitter.com/UybRNx0wr5

— 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚣 (@JoelKatz) January 22, 2022

Defendants, on the other hand, contend that any further delay would be detrimental to their position, accusing the plaintiff of taking a “wait-and-see” attitude in order to delay the disclosure of documents that could potentially be critical to the case’s resolution.

Defendants’ application to compel the SEC to provide certain papers, which the SEC had been keeping pursuant to the deliberative process privilege, which allows government officials to withhold pre-decisional data, was partially granted by Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on January 13.

For example, the SEC has been required to submit an internal e-mail that contains a draft of the now-infamous statement delivered by former director William Hinman, in which he declared that Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, was not a security, as well as other records.

Jay Clayton speaking on 09/19/18 “Bill Hinman recently outlined the approach WE take to evaluate whether a digital asset is a security…” wait what? I thought it was his personal opinion. BOOM! 🎤 drop! 👀@JohnEDeaton1 @attorneyjeremy1 @s_alderoty @digitalassetbuy @BakkupBradley pic.twitter.com/cUabECstdx

— wEeZiE {X} (@NerdNationUnbox) January 25, 2022

Since the beginning of its legal struggle with the SEC, Ripple has complained about a lack of regulatory clarity, and the company is determined to find out why the agency began “picking winners and losers.” Ripple began seeking documents linked to Bitcoin and Ethereum as soon as it was served with the lawsuit in December 2020, and filed a Freedom of Information request in January this year to obtain the information.

Hinman was forced to testify about the speech by the defendants in July, and the testimony was successful. The former SEC officer made it clear that his statement was purely his personal viewpoint and did not represent the views of the regulatory body in any way.

FX Empire speculates:

Has the Lawsuit Affected XRP Price?

XRP price was trading around $0.44 before SEC announcement. The price was down 52% a week later, trading at $0.21. As time passed, the XRP price was less correlated about the case ecosystem and reached a 2021 price top in April of $1.83, according to CoinMarketCap.

The Ripple-related cryptocurrency is still down 82% from its previous all-time high of $3.37 in January 2018. XRP is the eighth biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, trading at $0.59 and $59.90 billion of market cap.

The majority of the crypto community has been aware of the Ripple vs SEC case because the outcome if SEC wins could hurt not only XRP but also other cryptocurrencies and crypto in general.

At this moment, there is a short-term bearish sentiment on the cryptocurrencies market, but if Ripple wins the case in the future and the market turns bullish again, could this be the catalyst to send XRP to a new all-time high?

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