- Ripple and the SEC want to dissolve the court’s injunction.
- Their new filing cites “exceptional circumstances” for relief.
- A crypto lawyer says the judge may still find the case too weak.
After nearly five years of litigation, Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission want to settle.
But they still have to convince the judge to rewrite her own judgment.
Their latest joint motion asks Judge Analisa Torres to dissolve the injunction against Ripple and reduce its $125 million penalty to $50 million, arguing that “exceptional circumstances” justify the request.
But the brief leaves “meat off the bone,” said crypto attorney John Deaton in a recent X broadcast.
He warns the judge won’t be rushed into reversing a decision she spent years crafting.
In his view, the filing missed key opportunities to persuade.
It failed to emphasise how the SEC’s prior leadership under Gary Gensler pursued an overly aggressive and inconsistent enforcement strategy — one that has since been rolled back under current Chair Paul Atkins.
It also didn’t make a strong enough argument for why Ripple deserves to shed its injunction, what Deaton referred to as a “dark cloud,” while other firms enjoy regulatory clarity.
Torres previously ruled that XRP is not a security in secondary market sales but found Ripple’s institutional sales did violate securities laws.
“She applied the law,” Deaton said of Judge Torres. He now believes she won’t simply walk it back without a compelling reason.
Deaton puts the odds of approval at 70%, suggesting Judge Torres might prefer finality to another round of litigation.
If the motion is denied, the case returns to the Second Circuit, where both parties’ appeals remain on hold pending this outcome.
Kyle Baird is DL News’ Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email at kbaird@dlnews.com.
