Holders of XRP think the SEC will try to resolve the two-year legal dispute.
According to a Twitter survey conducted by pro-XRP attorney John E. Deaton, the majority of XRP investors anticipate that the US Securities and Exchange Commission would try to settle its legal dispute with Ripple.
In 2023 the @SECGov 🆚 @Ripple case:
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 28, 2022
59.2% of the more than 18,000 participants in the survey, which Deaton started on Wednesday, projected an out-of-court settlement in the case in 2023, while the remaining 40.8% predicted a court decision.
For background, let's recall that the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, charging the blockchain payments company and its officials with marketing and selling XRP, an unregistered security.
Although the survey by itself doesn't reveal much about why XRP investors anticipate a settlement, it's important to note that many now think that Ripple may have forced the SEC into a corner with the Hinman documents.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities, according to William Hinman, an SEC director, who made this claim in a speech in 2018. In order to learn how the director arrived at this judgment and why the regulators viewed XRP differently, Ripple's attorneys requested papers and communications pertaining to the speech's draft; however, they encountered strong opposition from the SEC.
The regulator claimed that these records were shielded by the attorney-client privilege, but after two judges rejected her claims six times in the space of 18 months, she finally turned them up to Ripple in October.
According to its most recent Omnibus requests to seal materials related to summary judgment motions, the SEC is making one last ditch effort to prevent these documents from becoming a part of public record. Intense curiosity and mistrust about the contents of the Hinman documents have been sparked by the great desire to keep them confidential. As a result, some members of the XRP community believe that if the court rejects the SEC's Omnibus motion, the SEC may be compelled to negotiate a deal with Ripple to keep these records secret.
After receiving the documents, Stuart Alderoty, the general counsel for Ripple, suggested that Ripple had a better case and that it was "well worth the fight."
Recall that Ripple's CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company wouldn't settle unless the SEC gave XRP some clarification. Therefore, an out-of-court settlement may be advantageous for the XRP community.
However, the larger crypto community does not desire this. David Gokhshtein, the founder of Gokhstein Media, has referred to it as the worst conceivable outcome and advocated an outright Ripple victory as the better option. This is so that, while it clarifies things for XRP, it does not compel the regulator to also clarify things for the other cryptocurrency markets.
Notably, FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett has refuted both settlement claims that have surfaced in the past two months.
While a settlement is still possible, it is now doubtful, according to pro-XRP lawyer Jeremy Hogan, who has closely watched the case. In the absence of a settlement, James K. Filan, an attorney, believes the judge will issue her decision before or before the end of March 2023.
