Most XRP holders expect the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to seek a settlement against Ripple, according to a Twitter poll conducted by John E. Deaton, a lawyer advocating for XRP.

In 2023 the @SECGov ? @Ripple case:

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 28, 2022

According to the results of the survey, which Deaton launched on Wednesday, 59.2% of more than 18 thousand voters predicted an out-of-court settlement of the case in 2023, and the remaining 40.8% said that it would end with a court decision.

While the survey itself provides little insight into why XRP holders expect a settlement, it's worth noting that many believe Ripple may have cornered the SEC with Hinman's documents.

William Hinman, in his speech in 2018 as director of the SEC, argued that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities. Consequently, Ripple's lawyers, trying to understand how the director came to this conclusion and why regulators treated XRP differently, requested documents and emails on the draft speech, but faced stiff resistance from the SEC.

The regulator claimed that these documents were protected by attorney-client privilege, but after 6 refusals in 18 months, two judges handed over the documents to Ripple in October.

Nevertheless, the Securities and Exchange Commission is making a last-ditch attempt to ensure that these documents do not become public, in accordance with its latest requests for the classification of documents related to applications for summary trial.

Such a strong desire to keep Hinman's documents secret has raised suspicions about their contents. Some members of the XRP community and prominent jurits think that the SEC may be forced to seek a settlement agreement with Ripple to hide these documents from the public if the court rejects their petition.

Stuart Alderoti, Ripple's general counsel, hinted that Ripple's arguments became more weighty after they got Hinman's documents into their own hands.

Recall that Ripple's chief executive officer Brad Garlinghouse claimed that Ripple would only agree to the deal if the SEC clarified XRP. Hence, an out-of-court settlement is potentially beneficial to the XRP community.

However, this is the last thing the broader crypto community wants. Gokhstein media founder David Gokhstein called it the worst possible outcome, calling Ripple's outright victory the preferred choice. This is because, although it provides clarity for XRP, it does not force the regulator to bring clarity to the rest of the cryptocurrency markets.

Lawyer James K. Phelan predicts that if there is no settlement agreement, the judge will make his decision before or at the end of March 2023.