Yesterday, Wednesday, April 26, Zakenov’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs for selling XRP as unregistered security took place for the dismissal certificate hearing. As Bitcoinist was the first to report yesterday, the hearing was about the testimony of the XRP Owners Group suing Ripple.
Lead plaintiff Vlady Zakinov, who has owned XRP for only two weeks, is seeking to be the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit. He argues that XRP is a security issued by Ripple. Sostak is asking the court to form a class consisting of all XRP holders who bought and now hold XRP or who sold XRP at a loss.
How does collegiate hearing vs. Ripple decline
The hearing was held via Zoom and had room for a 500 audience recording. XRP Community Attorney John E. Deaton, who is an amicus in the Ripple SEC case, also filed for amicus status in the Zakinov lawsuit.
Unlike the SEC case, the judge assigned to the case did not allow a friend’s attorney to appear for oral argument. Accordingly, Deaton States About the course of the session:
I have never felt so frustrated in my legal career while watching this zoom session. Mainly because I can’t speak and deal with the questions and issues the judge raises. The problem is that no one understands the technology.
Remarkably, the judge stated during he heard She even attended a cryptocurrency seminar prior to this hearing and came away as confused as before the hearing. Accordingly, the hearing can be described as extremely dull and lacking in clarity.
One such example is the judge’s debate over whether the more than 75,000 XRP holders who support Ripple in its lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can be excluded from the class action. The background is that the collective action will include all XRP holders around the world — even in countries where XRP has already been classified as non-security (such as in the UK).
In response, Zakinov’s attorney, Nick Speer, said that the 75,000 XRP holders were “fake” and therefore irrelevant. Speer later explained how damage calculations could be made. However, Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton has been skeptical of the “worldwide class action lawsuit” and has made it clear that there is no precedent.
Ripple attorney Andrew Michelson also argued that XPR buyers are not dependent on Ripple, including overseas. He also provided evidence of 75,000 XRP holders who support Ripple in the SEC lawsuit and do not want to be part of the class action lawsuit. Michaelson also explained why “dismissal” was not considered a solution to force 74 holders to “opt out”.
Further, the judge asked whether it was important for cryptocurrency holders to buy and inquired about the Howey test as an objective test. She sought to understand that cryptocurrencies have a use case.
Michaelson offered several of them, including cross-border payments, and the judge agreed that the use case was important. In addition, Ripple’s attorney asserted that the plaintiffs were making a purchase in the secondary market, and therefore there was no written contract between the plaintiff and the defendant.
Ripple’s attorney also sought to explain how the complainant’s day trading experience reflected that it did not rely on Ripple’s efforts by buying and trading intraday. On the other hand, Zakinov’s lawyer countered that the marketing materials were relevant, that the contract was not necessary because of the “scheme”, and that the Mayfield case was clear.
Thus, the results of the hearing are limited. The judge is now reviewing the facts if Zakinov is allowed to lead the class. The score is open. The next date is May 8, 2023, when Zakinov’s claimant data is due to be released.
At the time of writing, XRP price is trading at $0.4613.
Featured image by Fuld, chart from TradingView.com
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