• The SEC opposed Ripple’s motion to strike expert witness Andrea Fox, claiming it’s within the law and doesn’t constitute undisclosed expert testimony.
• The market continues to wait on the court ruling in the legal battle, with analysts pointing out that XRP will gain close to 20% in the short term.

One of the longest-running legal feuds in crypto is edging ever closer to completion, as Crypto News Flash reported. Ripple and the SEC have been fighting in court since former chair Jay Clayton sued the company for securities violations in December 2020. In the latest move, the SEC has replied to Ripple’s motion to strike one of its expert witnesses.

On Monday, the agency filed a motion at the Southern District of New York defending the inclusion of Andrea Fox’s declaration as its summary witness.

The SEC argues that Ripple’s motion to strike Fox “incorrectly claims that [Fox]’s declaration constitutes undisclosed expert testimony. It does not.” The regulator argues that the declaration is standard summary evidence permissible in support of calculations for disgorgement.

The SEC added:

It is not an expert’s report, does not rely on specialized experience, and does not render any opinions at all, let alone an “expert” one. Nor does it present the testimony of a percipient witness. Rather, it applies basic arithmetic to Ripple’s financial records to streamline the presentation of the evidence to Judge Torres.

According to the agency, Fox applies “basic arithmetic” to the blockchain company’s financial records to help Judge Torres with her ruling. Additionally, Fox’s summary is consistent with another SEC summary that Judge Torres allegedly allowed earlier on and even cited in her summary judgment.

This is not the first time Ripple has tried to have the judge dismiss its expert witness, albeit unsuccessfully in its first attempt, the SEC continues. Ripple allegedly tried to exclude the summary witness declaration by Christopher Ferrante, an SEC staff accountant, arguing that it was “improper expert testimony that was not properly disclosed.” Judge Torres ruled against the California company in that instance.

What’s Next for XRP as Ripple Fights the SEC?

XRP trades at $0.4993 at press time, having lost 2.5% over the past day. It set an intra-day low at $0.4917, but over the past four hours, it has reversed the trend and been on an uptrend. However, the token has decreased by over 20% in the past month.

Analysts say that if XRP is to embark on a bull rally, it must breach past $0.53, its closest resistance. The crypto has traded below this level since last Wednesday. Before then, this level acted as the token’s support from mid-February through early April.

The next key resistance is $0.55 from here, although analysts believe this would be easier to break through. After this, the $0.64 resistance will come into focus. These three resistance levels align with the 50%, 61.8% and 100% Fibonacci retracement levels of the token’s decline since April 9.

Meanwhile, CoinCodex says XRP is set to surge by over 20% in May to hit a high of $0.6716 within the next five days.

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