Despite the ongoing legal battle with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has taken a moment to express his gratitude for the support shown by the XRP community.
Amid the case’s proceedings, there have been numerous challenges and developments between both parties, and the community’s support has not gone unnoticed by the Ripple leadership.
In this line, following his participation in the XRP Las Vegas 2023 meeting, Garlinghouse remarked on the community’s camaraderie while stating that “I can’t adequately express my gratitude,” he said in a tweet on May 6.
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The XRP Las Vegas 2023 event, presented by Digital Perspective founder Bradley Kimes, is a two-day conference exclusively dedicated to members of the XRP community. The event has been dubbed the “XRPArmy Conference of a lifetime!” by its organizers, who hope it will become the XRP community’s equivalent to the popular “Bitcoin Miami” conference.
Awaiting the summary judgment
The XRP and broader cryptocurrency communities are eagerly awaiting the summary judgment in the legal case. Garlinghouse, who anticipates the matter to be concluded in the first half of 2023, has previously expressed confidence that Ripple will emerge victorious.
In the latest update, pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton has claimed that the SEC’s case against Ripple was weakened by recent developments, including a legal document referenced as “ECF 640,” which acknowledges that the purchase of XRP was an investment of money into a common enterprise.
Deaton also criticized the SEC’s argument, stating that it potentially captures all future sales, even in countries that may recognize XRP as a fiat currency, which could be seen as a sign of overreach. These developments could have implications for the outcome of the legal case and the broader regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
SEC’s expert dropped
Ahead of the summary judgment, Ripple recently revealed that one of the SEC’s expert opinions on the “reasonable expectations of XRP purchasers” was stricken from the court record, along with another SEC expert opinion on determining the cause of XRP price changes.
Notably, the company has blasted the regulator for enforcing regulatory action without providing clear rules for crypto players in the United States. However, Ripple is banking on friendly global regulations to expand its business despite the situation in the U.S.
To provide context, in December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple and two of its executives, alleging that they had offered unregistered securities in the form of XRP.
The SEC’s lack of clarity on what it considers security has been a point of contention, with many industry insiders hoping that the Ripple case will provide much-needed clarity. Despite repeated inquiries, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has yet to give a definitive answer, including on the status of Ethereum (ETH).
In the meantime, as the case awaits a conclusion, XRP continues to trade in tandem with the general. By press time, the token was trading at $0.46 with daily gains of about 0.65%.
