US-based blockchain company Ripple is likely to win the long war with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), say legal experts, arguing that the agency may have shot itself in the foot.

Some legal observers suggested that the agency completely failed to prove its case, according to a Forbes report. A major cause for its downfall could have been thousands of retail XRP holders who got involved in the case: though they were unable to be included as defendants along with Ripple, the judge allowed them to file amicus briefs, so that their voices would be heard as well.

Attorney Jeremy Hogan was quoted as saying that,

"The SEC can only prevail with its summary judgment motion if Judge [Analisa] Torres “forgets her first year of law school"."

Furthermore, well-known legal experts, namely Curt Levey of the Federalist Society and Professor J.W. Verret of George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law, argue that,

"Ripple is on track to win this case."

And that's not all. Verret said that, should the SEC decide to appeal to the Supreme Court,

"It is likely to not only lose but set a sweeping precedent that would limit or eliminate entirely the application of Howey on cryptocurrencies, which defy the definitions of 1946."

The Howey Test refers to the US Supreme Court case for determining whether a transaction qualifies as an 'investment contract', and therefore a security.

According to Forbes,

"The verdict could drastically limit the SEC’s authority to regulate crypto in the United States. If that’s how it ends, it will have been a self-inflicted disaster from the start."

The SEC filed this lawsuit against Ripple and its senior executives back in December 2020, alleging that Ripple-associated XRP is an unregistered security. It