Despite that warning, Morgan sees a substantive hook the judge could grab if she wishes to end the four-year dispute: “The strongest argument in the joint motion is that the modification of the final orders of Judge Torres is a necessary condition of the settlement agreement between the SEC and Ripple, and that if the final orders are modified by reducing the amount of the fine and dissolving the injunction, the litigation will finally be at an end and court resources will be saved as this will bring an end to the appeal and cross-appeal.”
Even so, Morgan’s endorsement is hardly unqualified. He reminds readers that the parties themselves chose to hinge settlement on rewriting the judgment: “They could have simply agreed to end the appeal and the cross-appeal and lived with and moved on from the final orders… Ripple wanted more. The parties are really imposing a fait accompli on the court and hoping the Judge exercises her discretion… Intuitively, I think she will grant the motion but it would not surprise at all if she does not.”
For Rispoli, the dispositive issue is judicial discretion, not black-letter law. He concedes that “the parties cite enough law for the court to grant it,” yet concludes, “I don’t think this gets it done, sadly.” His prediction is grim: unless the parties supplement the record or Judge Torres decides she simply wants the case off her docket, the motion could meet the same fate as its predecessor. He nevertheless notes that a continued injunction is “not a death knell—Ripple can still sell XRP to institutions, just not in the same way it did pre-2018,” though more conservative counterparties would likely remain on the sidelines.
At press time, XRP traded at $2.25.
