In this line, defense lawyer James Finlan on January 10 took to Twitter, revealing that the regulator had filed a reply motion regarding Ripple’s opposition to sealing documents.  Initially, Ripple had filed a motion opposing the SEC’s call for sealing certain information on the grounds that the matter has entered the summary judgment stage and that the judicial documents be accessible to the public. Notably, the motions were filed in connection with the parties’ cross-motions ahead of the summary judgment, whose date is yet to be determined.  According to the SEC’s opposition, Ripple is seeking to seal over 900 documents completely. The commission further noted that defendants propose that redactions are appropriate to protect third parties’ privacy. 

Broad redactions

Interestingly, the SEC acknowledged that the documents contain sensitive business information but pointed out that the proposed redactions are very broad to overcome the presumption of public access. It is worth noting that the sealing of documents has been a source of contention in the case. For instance, the SEC was dealt a blow after the presiding judge overruled the regulator’s motion to seal documents related to the speech by former a former official. In the documents, the official, William Hinman, had referred to Ethereum (ETH) as a security.  At the moment, both parties have made final submissions with lingering anticipation regarding the possible outcome, with Filan earlier projecting that the matter might be settled by March.  Notably, a section of the Ripple community favored a settlement, although legal experts maintain the case could go either way.  As a reminder, SEC is suing Ripple for selling unregistered securities under the XRP token in a sale that raised over $1.3 billion. 

XRP price analysis

XRP has been on a bullish run in 2023, trading at $0.36 by press time with daily gains of over 4%. The weekly shows that XRP is up almost 4%.  The asset currently controls a market capitalization of $18.42 billion. Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.