Cryptocurrency advocacy group Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC) has sought to be an amicus curiae (Latin for friend of court) in the lawsuit between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs.

See related article: Ripple opposes SEC request to seal expert witness identities in XRP lawsuit

Fast facts

• CDC Wednesday filed several documents in the district court of the Southern District of New York, including a motion for leave to submit an amicus curiae brief.

• CDC said in a separate statement that it does not take a view on whether Ripple’s XRP sales are securities transactions in the brief, but it lays out the applicable legal precedent for the initial offering of digital assets and “makes the court aware that no federal law or regulation governs the legal characterization of a digital asset recorded on a blockchain.”

• An amicus brief (short for amicus curiae briefs) is typically filed by a person or organization that isn’t a party to a case but would petition the court for permission to submit a brief intending to influence the court’s decision.

• In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple alleging that its sale of XRP — the native coin of the XRP Ledger created by Ripple Labs — was an unregistered securities offering worth over US$1.38 billion. The SEC also named Ripple’s executive chairman Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse as co-defendants for allegedly aiding and abetting Ripple’s violations.

• On Monday, District Judge Analisa Torres approved the SEC’s and Ripple’s joint letter that specified schedules for redactions concerning sealing issues, a move that’s widely seen as an attempt from both parties to speed up the resolution of the lawsuit, a tweet by defense lawyer James K. Filan showed.

See related article: SEC, Ripple take XRP lawsuit battle to media as well