As SEC is suing more and more high-profile crypto exchanges, all eyes are on the long-lasting Ripple case again
Crypto lawyers are increasingly noting that whether XRP is ruled as a security or not in the SEC vs Ripple case will have a significant influence on the two latest crypto exchange lawsuits.
Lawyer James Murphy, posting under the nickname “MetaLawMan” on Twitter, has today explained in a series of tweets that a favourable outcome for Ripple could “undermine the entire basis for the SEC’s case” against both Coinbase and Binance.
This June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) almost simultaneously filed two major lawsuits. First, the regulator sued Binance alleging it manipulated the trading patterns, consciously violated existing laws and conducted unregistered trading activities. On the next day, Coinbase faced allegations of offering unregistered securities, while SEC also attempted to freeze Binance assets.
The charges are similar to the ones faced by Ripple which has been in a legal battle with the US regulator since December 2020.
Therefore, the outcome of this earlier legal case will set a legal precedent for future decisions on similar cases. At the same time, Murphy explains that a ruling by Judge Torres in the Ripple case would not be a “binding precedent” for these two recent filings since it is not a decision of the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court that has such legal power.
Other lawyers agree with the statement, acknowledging the intertwined nature of all these high-profile cases and their role for the future of crypto.
Moreover, a lawyer John Deaton in his comments to Cointelegraph noted that the SEC is probably “well aware” that Judge Torres’ decision in the Ripple case will be published “in the very near future.” Hence, the rush to start the two new legal cases against Binance and Coinbase. The lawyer suggests SEC might have been afraid “to lose some political and legal momentum,” in case the Ripple case turns out negative for the regulator.
