After Ripple’s partial victory in the court, many experts expressed their opinion on what will happen next in court, and here are the most striking of the statements.
Former federal prosecutor turned chief executive of cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm Haun Ventures Kathy Haun says she would be “surprised” if the U.S. securities regulator immediately appealed the Ripple ruling as it currently benefits from a lack of “legal clarity”.
In a Twitter thread dated July 15, she explained that the regulator is likely to remain silent because it benefits from the “current mess” and that losing the appeal could jeopardize its future enforcement actions.
Hawn is just the latest commentator to share this view. Earlier, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse suggested in an interview with Bloomberg that the US SEC would have a lengthy process to appeal the court’s decision.
On the same day, lawyer Jeremy Hogan, who closely followed and commented on the US SEC lawsuit against Ripple, commented on the likelihood of an appeal by either party. In his opinion, the SEC will file an appeal after the end of the trial, which is scheduled for early 2024. He personally believes that neither side will appeal as they are difficult to win and the SEC will lose more than gain by filing an appeal.
As for Ripple, Hogan suggested that they probably won’t appeal if they can pay the fine and if part of the ODL decision doesn’t interfere with their business. He also humorously noted that “only losers apply,” and in this case, Ripple won.
In opposition to them, Australian lawyer Bill Morgan saidthat both Ripple and the SEC will appeal Judge Torres’ recent summary decision. His opinion echoes the statement of the former director of the SEC Mark Fagelwho said either party could file an immediate appeal, adding that the court must approve the request.
Attorney John Deaton disagrees with them and suggests that US District Judge Analisa Torres will not approve the SEC’s request to appeal its decision in the Ripple lawsuit until the court’s final decision is made.
So he wrote to Deaton, he suggested that Judge Torres would not accept the SEC’s appeal request:
I didn’t mean that there can’t be an appeal before the jury’s verdict, just that there’s no immediate right to appeal. Either party can ask Judge Torres to allow it and then ask the 2nd Circuit to accept. I don’t see Judge Torres condoning this because the Securities and Exchange Commission was seeking…
— John E. Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) July 16, 2023
In addition, Charles Gasparino of Fox Business noted that while the court ruled that XRP is not an investment security, Ripple will still have to pay some amount of money, likely as a penalty if it loses on the remaining issue.