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SEC vs Ripple referred to judge who ordered release of ‘Hinman Documents’

July 17, 2023No Comments


The next phase of the 'SEC vs Ripple' case is set to move forward as US District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York filed papers on July 17 remanding the case to Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.

First reported by journalist Eleanor Terrett, the court issued an "amended order for referral to a Magistrate" transferring judicial supervision of the case to the Magistrate's office:

The one-page document, which was seen by Cointelegraph, indicates that the next step will be general pre-trial. This stage usually involves discovery and a brief window for increase objections

The general pretrial is the most likely part of the proceedings for a settlement to occur. As Cointelegraph recently reported, experts believe the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is unlikely to appeal the rulings of the previous week by judge Torres.

Related: Judge rules that XRP is not a security in SEC case against Ripple

In a partial Ripple victory on July 13, Judge Torres dismissed the allegation that Ripple violated the law by posting its XRP token on public exchanges. This has been interpreted to mean that XRP is not a security, with implications for the crypto market as a whole.

However, allegations remain that XRP was sold as a security when Ripple sold it directly to investors through a marketing scheme that highlighted various aspects of XRP that the SEC says could lead investors to view it as a security. .

Judge Netburn will oversee this later phase where, as some experts predict, the SEC could be tempted to allow Ripple to settle the case.

Netburn has been involved in the case throughout its existence, even intervening in several previous motions. Judge Netburn issued the order to release the long-awaited "Hinman Documents," a collection of SEC files that included the text of a speech given by director William Hinman in 2018, which was thought to be something of a damning proof.

While the release of the documents may not have had the desired impact on the case that the cryptocurrency community had hoped for, the resulting partial victory for Ripple has significantly impacted overall cryptocurrency sentiment.

Next to Netburn history of challenging SEC claims in the event, there is every reason to believe that the positive sentiment will continue. At press time, XRP is trading at $0.72, down from last week's peak, but still up over 56% since July 13.