Coinbase Requests to File Amicus Brief in Support of Ripple and XRP Against the SEC

Coinbase, the largest United States-based cryptocurrency exchange has moved to back Ripple, the San Francisco-based crypto solutions company, in its long-standing legal tussle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the securities status of XRP.

As reported by Paul Grewal, the Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, the US-headquartered crypto exchange has joined the list of entities to show support for Ripple via amicus briefs, as they continue to battle with the Gary Gensler-led SEC in court to prove that XRP is not a security and wasn’t sold as an unregistered security, as claimed by the securities watchdog.

Coinbase Seeks to File Amicus Brief in Support of Ripple

On Monday, Coinbase exchange submitted a request to Judge Analisa Torres, seeking permission to file an amicus curiae brief in support of the Ripple Labs fair notice defense.

To note, amici represent third parties whose particular interests may be affected by the Court’s ruling and whose particular interests are echoed in broader public interests. The primary role of the amicus (friend of the Court) is to assist the Court in reaching the right decision in a case affected by the interest of the general public.

According to Paul Grewal, the Ripple-SEC crypto lawsuit ‘is a textbook case of just how critical fair notice is any reasonable notice of due process under law.’

The Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase also wrote that “one of the fundamental due process protections guaranteed by our Constitution is that government agencies cannot condemn conduct as a violation of law without providing fair notice that the conduct is illegal.”

“By suing sellers of XRP tokens after making public statements signaling that those transactions were lawful, the SEC has lost sight of this bedrock principle, Grewal added.

Support for Ripple Increases

While it has been predicted by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse that the court battle between the SEC and Ripple Labs could be wrapped up in the first quarter of 2023, more third parties are seeking to file amicus briefs in favor of the defendants, Ripple, and its top executives. The likes of I-Remit and Tapjets filed their briefs in October.

John Deaton, the founder of Crypto Law and top legal practitioner representing over 75k XRP holders in the XRP Lawsuit equally requested Judge Analisa Torres for leave to file an amicus brief in favor of Ripple. According to Deaton, it is a decentralized community brief dedicated to XRP holders.

It’s worth noting that Judge Analisa Torres, the district judge presiding over the case is yet to respond to both amici requests filed by Coinbase and John Deaton. It is believed that the Court will grant both parties’ requests as these briefs would help the court in making the right summary judgment.

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Ndianabasi Tom

Ndianabasi Tom joined the crypto and blockchain industry in late 2018. He is an all-rounded crypto journalist and content writer. At TimesTabloid, he covers the industry's latest news, developments, and other educational content. He is a graduate of Petroleum Engineering.