John Reed Stark is a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer. “all informal and formal SEC crypto-related investigations to grind to a screeching halt,” Ripple’s legal fight with the company, which has lasted for years.
Stark, a former chief of SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement who tweeted he was expecting the “SEC to direct the SEC trial unit to pause all crypto-related litigation or, alternatively, to settle or dismiss all SEC crypto-related cases expeditiously on highly favorable terms to the crypto-defendants.”
In recent weeks, several high-profile cases involving crypto have been halted. In the first week of this month, the SEC asked a federal court to grant a temporary halt in proceedings.
Stark declared that, “Another federal judge in January ruled the SEC case against Coinbase had to be suspended until an appeals tribunal could make a ruling.” “Stick a fork in the SEC’s case against Coinbase, it’s done.”
The former SEC lawyer, who spent two decades at the agency, said he expects all ongoing cryptocurrency-related appeals, including Ripple’s, to either be paused or “fully withdrawn.” Stark did not specify when the Ripple Case would be suspended. “soon.”
Stark cited several incidents to support his claim. These include the reassignment of Jorge Tenreiro, the SEC’s lead litigator in high-profile crypto cases—including those of Ripple and Binance—to the SEC’s information technology department. SEC has reassigned more than 50 staff and lawyers earlier in the month.
SEC and Ripple
In December 2020 the SEC took its first action against Ripple, alleging that Brad Garlinghouse’s CEO and Chris Larsen’s co-founder conducted unregistered offerings of $1.3 billion since 2013.
Multiple appeals were made in the proceedings that concerned whether or no XRP should be deemed a security and therefore, subject to securities regulation.
A New York federal judge ruled that Ripple’s XRP sales on digital exchanges in 2023 should not be regarded as investment contracts.
In January 2025 the SEC filed an appeal to reverse the earlier court ruling.
