Court Update: New Filing Reveals What Ripple Wants To Hide From Public

As a long-term crypto investor with experience in following the developments of key players like Ripple, I can’t help but express my strong support for Ripple’s request to seal sensitive financial documents. The potential damage these disclosures could cause is immense, and it goes beyond just competitive positioning.


On May 13, 2024, I, Ripple Labs, filed a request with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to conceal certain documents that were previously submitted in relation to the SEC’s application for Judgment and Remedies. These papers, collectively known as the “Remedies Materials,” encompass confidential financial information such as audited financial statements, revenues, expenses, and other business details that must be kept private due to their sensitive nature.

Breaking Down Rippleā€™s Request To Seal

In a letter to Judge Analisa Torres, Ripple’s lawyer, Andrew J. Ceresney from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, explained the reasoning behind their request. According to Ceresney, disclosing the requested information would significantly harm Ripple as it would reveal intricate details about the company’s financial situation, future business plans, sources of income, and cost structures. This information could be exploited by competitors, customers, and potential partners, putting Ripple at a competitive disadvantage.

As a crypto investor, I can explain that one of Ripple’s primary goals is to lock in discounts for institutional purchases of XRP. Here are the key rationales they present to support this request:

Securing Access to Sensitive Financial Records: Ripple underscores the importance of shielding specific documents, including their audited financial reports and accompanying data, from public access.

As a crypto investor, I can understand how important it is for companies like Ripple to protect their competitive edge, especially when it comes to financial metrics. According to Ceresney’s argument, disclosing non-public documents and information would cause substantial harm to Ripple’s business interests and market position. These documents contain sensitive data that are crucial in maintaining the company’s proprietary strategies and keeping their competitive edge in the crypto marketplace.

Protecting the Confidentiality of Financial Terms: An essential element of the proposal involves safeguarding the specifics of our financial agreements with external business collaborators. Disclosing the details of our XRP sales could potentially harm our competitive edge and impair our ability to effectively negotiate future deals.

The proposal outlines the possible consequences, explaining that “disclosing the financial specifics of its agreements with partners and clients” could significantly weaken Ripple’s bargaining power in future deals, forcing competitors to adapt their sales strategies and pricing models to challenge Ripple in the market.

In this part, we emphasize the risk that sharing such information might negatively impact our negotiating position and give rivals an unfair advantage by revealing insight into our company’s strategic plans.

Protecting the Privacy of Non-Involved Parties: Ripple advocates for concealing the identities of entities such as XRP investors, customers, and business associates. The rationale being that their privacy is essential as their identities and contact details bear no connection to the legal matters at hand and may be misused if made public.

The parties moving for remedies argue that the identities of those not directly involved in the case are irrelevant to the court’s decision on this matter. Consequently, their privacy concerns carry more weight than the presumption favoring public access. Ripple emphasizes that revealing such information unnecessarily jeopardizes the interests of individuals and entities implicated in the case without contributing any valuable insight into the resolution of the dispute at hand.

According to Ripple’s legal team, the SEC hasn’t contested several seal request proposals, which could potentially strengthen their own motion. Referencing past cases where courts have granted comparable requests for redactions and sealing, Ripple argues that there is a robust precedent in favor of granting their request.

As a crypto investor, I can understand Bill Morgan’s perspective. He’s saying that companies have the right to safeguard confidential information. In Ripple’s case, the SEC made public some of this sensitive data, which prompted the need for Ripple to request sealing certain information related to discounts. The SEC’s argument that institutional investors suffered financial harm due to this disclosure is questionable, considering these investors are typically sophisticated and well-equipped to make informed decisions.

At press time, XRP traded at $0.507.

Court Update: New Filing Reveals What Ripple Wants To Hide From Public

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2024-05-14 09:11