November 9 Deadline Looms with no News of an SEC v Ripple Settlement

On Sunday, attorney and partner at Hogan & Hogan Jeremy Hogan laid out favorable scenarios for Ripple in a settlement of institutional sales of XRP charges. The assessment followed the views of amicus curiae attorney John E. Deaton from Saturday, November 4. Deaton gave Ripple a 90-10 chance of a favorable settlement and talked about a $20 million penalty or less being a 99.9% Ripple victory.

Speculation about the settlement has intensified in recent sessions. The crypto community awaits updates from Ripple and SEC on progress toward a briefing schedule. Notably, the two parties must jointly propose a briefing schedule to the court by November 9.

According to the October 24 court order, the court will arrange a contested briefing schedule if the parties fail to agree to a briefing schedule. Remedies to the remaining charges are the focal point.

Failure to jointly agree to a briefing schedule delivers an element of uncertainty relating to a settlement. The need for a contested briefing schedule suggests that the two sides are still far from settling.

The level of uncertainty could test buyer appetite for XRP in the run-up to the November 9 deadline.

While investors wait for updates, SEC Chair Gary Gensler remains a hot topic of discussion.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler Shocks the Legal Community

On Monday, Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty reacted to an October 25 Gary Gensler speech, saying,

“Remarkably, Gensler suggested that a crypto project retaining a lawyer is a security. That’s wrong as a matter of law, not to mention common sense. And it’s a not so subtle and outrageous threat to everyone’s right to consult with counsel.”

In the October 25 speech, Gensler continued placing cryptos into the securities basket despite recent SEC losses in court.

The SEC Chair had this to say about the crypto market,

“This is a field rife with fraud, scams, bankruptcies, and money laundering. While many entities in this space claim they operate beyond the reach of regulations issued before Satoshi Nakamoto’s famous white paper, they also are quick to seek the protections of the law, in bankruptcy court and litigating their private disputes.”

John E. Deaton responded to comments from Stuart Alderoty, stating,

“I began reading it and couldn’t continue because Gary Gensler is wrong on almost everything he says. And what’s great is the courts are proving just how wrong he is.”

Attorney Jeremy Hogan commented on XRP and whether it should be a security, saying,

“[…] how rare is it that the SEC sues a company for selling an unregistered security and during the litigation the price of the security increases? Very rare. And that might be another indication that the security is… not a security.”

XRP Price Action