In a recent Twitter conversation, members of the XRP community asked Marc Fagel, a former attorney and SEC employee, for his thoughts on the ongoing dispute between Ripple and the SEC. One community member in particular questioned if the watchdog would risk a trial against Ripple or choose to engage in serious settlement negotiations, taking into account the possible consequences for their more extensive cryptocurrency-related lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.
In response, Fagel said that although a settlement would not set a legal precedent, it may have important ramifications. He did, however, voice scepticism on the probability of a settlement, stating that if one were to take place, it most likely would have already done so. Fagel also stated that there is ongoing debate on how an injunction would affect future XRP sales.
Fagel’s position is consistent with earlier remarks he made, which were quoted by U.Today and in which he projected an impending decision in the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple. He said that a recent unsealing order by Judge Torres appeared to indicate that the court had already decided what decision it would render.
Fagel abstained from making speculative inferences in response to the question of whether Judge Torres’ choice to unseal certain papers indicated an effort to avoid a trial. The unsealing of evidence, such as the speech materials, which would ordinarily surface during a trial rather than in summary judgement, was noted by the speaker, but he also said that this suggests that some parts of the case are likely to go to trial.
