US SEC Suddenly Cancels July 18th Meeting

After much anticipation surrounding the scheduled meeting of the US SEC on the 18th of July, it was surprisingly canceled.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has abruptly canceled a closed-door meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 18, without explanation.

The financial watchdog has updated its official website to indicate that the meeting was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. US time will be held differently than initially planned.

Although the SEC did not disclose the agenda for the gathering, released internal documents on X indicated that the financial watchdog was planning to address issues related to the settlement of injunctive actions, administrative proceedings, litigation claims, and other matters.

Reactions and Speculation

The inclusion of settlements in the meeting agenda sparked speculation on the social media platform that the SEC was finally resolving its two-year-old legal dispute with Ripple, a blockchain payment infrastructure firm.

Two days ago, members of the crypto Twitter community enjoyed speculating about the potential outcome of the meeting. Some individuals were convinced that the canceled meeting would undoubtedly result in the case’s conclusion.

Marc Fagel, a pseudonymous X user, wrote, “I mean, they’ve had about 150 of these nearly weekly meetings since the case was filed, and Crypto Twitter was convinced a settlement was being discussed at every one of those meetings, but this is the one.”

Another user expressed the same sentiment as Fagel, asserting that the canceled meeting would resolve the lengthy legal dispute between the two. Regarding his tenure as the SEC chair, he stated, “Gary Gensler is feeling the heat, and he’s exhausted, knowing the end is near.”

Nevertheless, the SEC has canceled the meeting, which was scheduled to include numerous SEC commissioners and officials, and the case has yet to be resolved.

The Legal Conflict Between the SEC and Ripple

The ongoing legal dispute between the SEC and Ripple commenced in December 2020 when the financial regulator filed a civil lawsuit against the company for providing unregistered products (XRP) to its American users.

The SEC asserted that the digital asset utilized by Ripple for payments is a security and should be subject to its regulation. Nevertheless, the blockchain company partially won in the case last year, as the court determined that XRP does not exhibit the characteristics of securities.

The case has progressed through several stages since then, and the two parties are presently engaged in a dispute over the appropriate penalty for Ripple’s purported violation of securities laws.

The financial watchdog advocates for a disgorgement of up to $2 billion, while Ripple advocates a reduced sanction of $10 million. The argument is under review by US District Court Judge Analisa Torres, who initially ruled against the SEC last year.

Concurrently, numerous individuals in the cryptocurrency sector think that the case has substantially influenced the expansion of XRP. The legal dispute is expected to be resolved, according to industry analysts, and the digital asset’s price could approach $18 per token.