The SEC has 39 days left to contend the court ruling on its legal battle with Ripple, as the appeals deadline approaches.
While Ripple and the XRP community continue to bask in their partial well-fought victory against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an important date remains to finally end the years-long legal battle.
It is uncertain if the top regulator will appeal the August 7 partial victory or not, but it can contend the ruling on or before October 6.
The Ripple legal team also has until then to appeal some parts of the rulings the SEC won. It is worth noting that the final court decision on the SEC vs. Ripple case was a partial victory for both parties.
The Clock Is Ticking
After Judge Analisa Torres, the preceding judge in the case, ruled that XRP paid a $125 million fine to the US SEC, she noted that the regulator had 60 days to appeal the remedy decision. Notably, the fine was a whopping 94% reduction in the $2 billion the US top regulator intended for the digital payment giant to pay.
Since the ruling, the SEC has not made an official statement about appealing the victory, but speculation has swayed toward a potential appeal. Analysts have pointed to a possible declaration that the regulator might appeal the July 23 ruling that XRP was not a security when sold to secondary investors.
Judge Torres ruled in July 2023 that XRP was not a security of itself. However, she declared that Ripple’s sales of XRP to institutional investors constituted unregistered securities offerings.
10% Chance of Reversal
While the uncertainties swell, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, is confident that an appeal will not likely change the course of the case. He stated that the SEC has a 10% chance of getting the case overturned with an appeal.
Alderoty pointed to the meager chances of victory in the Second Circuit, stating that the appeal might be dead on arrival following statistical trends. The CLO also said that Torres’s careful evaluation of the case meant the SEC may not see a new card to play during the appeals.
Meanwhile, the window for the appeal is down to 39 days at the time of writing, as the XRP community continues to hope the SEC doesn’t extend the case, which has lasted for four years. XRP traded at $0.574, down over 2% in the past 24 hours.
