US Court of Appeals Grants Ripple and SEC's Joint Motion to Suspend Appeals

As revealed in a court document, the US Court of Appeals has granted Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) joint motion to hold the appeal in abeyance.

In a significant development in the protracted XRP lawsuit, the US Court of Appeals has granted Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) joint motion to hold the appeal in abeyance. This will provide both parties with the necessary time to finalize the settlement in the long-running legal battle.

The court's decision, copy of which can be viewed here, grants the request of the Commission and the cross-appellant, Ripple, to hold the appeal in abeyance. The court has further directed the Commission to file a status report within 60 days of this order.

This order suspends the appeal filed by the SEC and the cross-appeal filed by Ripple from the judgment of the District Court, partially reported by Bloomberg Law and fully covered by CoinGape.

As reported by CoinGape, both parties filed the joint motion to suspend the appeals in light of them reaching a settlement agreement in March.

Holding appeal in abeyance will help conserve judicial and party resources while they both continue to pursue a negotiated resolution of this matter.

In March, Ripple agreed to drop its cross-appeal against the SEC following the latter’s decision to appeal Judge Analisa Torres’s ruling in the long-running XRP lawsuit.

However, the matter is yet to be finalized as both parties revealed in the filing that they need additional time to obtain the Commission approval for their agreement-in-principle.

Once approved, both parties will still need to get an indicative ruling from the District Court. As part of the agreement, Ripple and the SEC had agreed that the former would only pay $50 million out of the $125 million penalty that Judge Torres awarded against the crypto firm.

The Commission also agreed to request that Judge Torres lift the standard injunction that it imposed on Ripple.

Possible reason for the delay

It remains unclear why the Commission has yet to approve the agreement in the XRP lawsuit. However, a possible reason could be that the SEC is holding out for Paul Atkins to assume office.

As reported by CoinGape, the US Senate has confirmed Atkins as the next SEC Chair. The next step is for US President Donald Trump to sign off on the confirmation and swear him in as Gary Gensler’s successor.

Once the Commission approves the agreement, Ripple and the SEC will ask Judge Torres for relief from her earlier judgment. Once that happens, the Court of Appeals can strike out the appeal and remand the case to the District court for a full ruling on the agreement.

The post XRP Lawsuit: US Court Grants Ripple, SEC's Motion To Hold Appeal In Abeyance appeared first on CoinGape.

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