Stuart Alderoty, the chief legal officer (CLO) of Ripple Labs, has revealed in a new interview that the fintech company will immediately appeal if judge Analisa Torres grants summary judgment in favor of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Until now, it was not clear whether Ripple would take that step and bear the enormous costs of the trial or simply leave the United States for a crypto-friendly country. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse philosophized about this several times in the past, leaving the possibility open.
Ripple Would Go All the Way To Supreme Court
As Alderoty discussed in the interview, there are three possibilities for how the legal battle between Ripple and the SEC will play out. The first scenario is that Judge Torres grants summary judgment in Ripple’s favor, which would provide regulatory clarity for the company.
A summary judgment victory would finally allow Ripple to expand in one of the world’s largest markets after more than two years of fighting and a mandated halt to all activity in the United States. “We [would] have this incredible business opportunity in the US, that is evergreen for us,” Alderoty remarked.
On the other hand, the judge could rule that there are disputed facts that need to be resolved in a lawsuit. In the third scenario, Ripple would lose in summary judgment against the SEC, prompting the blockchain company to file an immediate appeal.
“It’s not an issue of fraud, or market manipulation, it’s a question of law,” Alderoty said. The case would then go to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The subsequent step would then be the Supreme Court, where Alderoty believes his company has a high chance of success, even if there are many “ifs” along the way.
“I would be supremely confident that this is a winner in the Supreme Court, not so much because of the crypto issues but because of the guarding against building an administrative state, “Alderoty remarked, referring to the court’s current conservative majority.
“Get out of the US!”
The lawyer also talked in the interview about what advice he would give to new crypto projects, and the answer is drastic: Get out of the United States.
According to the Ripple CLO, new crypto projects should be incorporated in a jurisdiction with clear rules for the industry. In addition, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is not to be trusted. “Don’t trust these guys,” he said. “It’s not a level playing field.”
With this, Alderoty alludes to a tweet of himself from Monday, in which he attacked SEC chairman Gary Gensler for already being vocal about his opinion of cryptocurrencies as securities ahead of the decision of an enforcement action.
However, as Bitcoinist reported, this can also have negative legal consequences for the SEC, as the Antoniu v. SEC (8th Cir. 1989) case is showing. With his statement, Gary Gensler (theoretically) disqualified himself from participating in a vote on a crypto-related securities case, according to the ruling.
At press time, XRP was trading at $0.3660, down 3% in the last 24 hours.
Featured image from Claire Anderson | Unsplash, Chart from TradingView.com