• Ripple is discontented with the SEC’s request to extend the expert discovery deadline to January 14, 2022.
• The defendants, in their defense, cite business detriment, “unduly prejudice” and the “freeze” of XRP markets as the result of such a move.

Last week, in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) legal face-off against Ripple, the former filed a letter requesting the extension of two deadlines. First was the expert rebuttal deadline to Nov. 12, 2021, and second, the expert discovery deadline was to Jan. 14, 2022.

Notably, a rebuttal expert shows the inadequacies, weaknesses, or inaccuracies of methods used by an affirmative expert. The two experts come from opposing sides of a case. An expert discovery, on the other hand, happens when attorneys attain expert witnesses to substantiate defendant or plaintiff claims. Expert witnesses testify in Court since their knowledge or skills in a certain field come as relevant to the case.

Ripple is, however, not content with dragging their almost year-long case into the new year. The remittance firm noted that it agreed with the extension of the rebuttal expert reports deadline. The expert discovery, nonetheless, should not be withheld beyond Dec. 10. Such a move, Ripple argues, would “unduly prejudice” it and continue to “freeze” XRP markets in the US.

Ripple contests pushing deadlines into new year

Ripple, has, therefore, asked the court to consider that further schedule alterations would likely bring more detriment to the defendants. Additionally, keeping the lawsuit pending grossly affects the cross-border payment network’s offerings and is “severely prejudicial” to its business. Ripple’s defense team said;

Ripple’s cross-border payment product relies on liquid XRP markets. The SEC well knows that within days of it filing its suit, almost 20 exchanges de-listed or suspended XRP trading in the United States,1 and more have since followed suit, critically damaging the market for XRP

Moreover, Ripple called out the regulator for double-dealing. The defendant’s claim the regulator approached them for a compromise but then proceeded to file a completely different motion. Initially, the plaintiff proposed an extension of the expert discovery deadline to Dec. 22. A day before the SEC filed this motion, Ripple suggested a Dec. 10 deadline, but the regulator insisted on Dec. 17.

Nonetheless, just three days later, the commission filed a motion appealing the extension of expert discovery to Jan. 14, 2022. The agency also told Ripple that discovery could be completed about a month earlier, that is by Dec. 17.

XRP at press time was trading at $1.11 according to our data. The asset hit its peak in 2018 at about $3.40. Thereafter, its highest point has been $1.84, achieved in mid-April this year.