XRP, the 4th cryptocurrency by market capitalization has seen an uptrend since April 4th, reaching its highest point since 2018 as the company that created it continues to score legal wins against the Securities and Exchange Commission in court.
XRP experienced a rally over the weekend, reaching a value as high as $1.61 today after more than a week of continued gains.
Over the last 7 days, XRP has seen a gain of 113.7%, significantly better performance than the top 50 cryptocurrencies.
XRP Rockets Higher
While most of the top coins in the crypto market experienced gains over the weekend according to CoinGecko data, XRP displayed a performance that shadowed currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The recent recovery and rally experienced by the cryptocurrency is a reflection of the increasing trust regained by the currency after months of legal battles with the SEC, as well as its ramifications that affected its market position and partnerships.
Altcoins, in general, have also continued to increase in values as Bitcoin’s performance has seen a sideways trend that has allowed them to receive attention from private and institutional investors, as seen by the market in the past as the decoupling process continues to occur.
Court Grants Protective Order In Favour of Ripple Executives
The SEC requested the released of eight years of personal financial information of both Bradley Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen as part of the civil discovery process of the lawsuit filed back in December of 2021 by the regulatory entity.
The subpoenas not only requested the data from both executives involved in the lawsuit but also of their family members’ accounts with SVB Financial Group, First Republic Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Silver Lake Bank, Silvergate Bank, and Citibank, N.A.
One of the arguments given by the Judge for the grant of the motion was finding that “the SEC’s requests for the Individual Defendants’ personal financial records, apart from those records of XRP transactions that are already promised, are not relevant or proportional to the needs of the case.”
This is just the latest win scored against both of the SEC’s lawsuits against Ripple and its executives for raising more than $1.3 billion via unregistered securities offerings. Previously, a judge had granted a motion from 6000 XRP holders asking to intervene in the lawsuit.
That motion was filed by John E. Deaton, the lawyer representing the group of holders, due to the damages caused by the SEC’s “intentional misconduct and/or gross negligence and gross abuse of discretion related to its allegations and claims regarding the Digital Asset XRP.”
The Potential Impact of The Latest Victory
The decision means that not only will the SEC have to withdraw the Requests for Production on the executive’s personal financial records but also withdraw the subpoenas it had submitted to the financial entities.
The SEC will also be able to renew its application for such records if it can provide evidence that the records provided by the defense have not been forthcoming with records of their XRP transactions.
I recently suggested that the Court would not grant Ripple's motion for discovery if it intended to dismiss the Fair Notice defense. Inversely, I think Brad/Chris can take this as a good sign as to their Motions to Dismiss the lawsuits against them. #Quashed (1/2) https://t.co/y6Ew6yySrg
— Jeremy Hogan (@attorneyjeremy1) April 9, 2021
Attorney Jeremy Hogan discussed the events by tweeting that the decision is a good sign for the Motion to Dismiss filed by the Ripple Executives earlier this year.
He also stated that, “The Judge AGAIN makes remarks that the technical/operational aspects of XRP are important to the case. Ripple WANTS it to be about that. The SEC wants to stay clear of that-they want it to be only about marketing and money, but this Judge is saying otherwise!”
James K Filan, defense lawyer, and former federal prosecutor, also referred to the decision by tweeting:
#SEC v. #RIPPLE #XRPCommunity. It appears that the #SEC’s strategy in this case is to “out-hemorrhage” its opponents.
— James K. Filan ???????????????? (@FilanLaw) April 9, 2021
With the entirety of the crypto community setting their eyes on the case, the SEC has received criticism for its decision to move against Ripple at a time when its instance on cryptocurrency is still unclear, causing a lot of controversy between crypto enthusiasts and skeptics.
