The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is filing a notice of appeal against 2023’s landmark ruling that the sales of the crypto asset XRP only qualify as securities when sold to institutional investors.
In a new thread on the social media platform X, Stuart Alderoty, the chief legal counsel of Ripple Labs, says that the SEC’s latest attempt to overturn the ruling is a continuation of the regulator’s warfare against the digital assets industry.
“The SEC’s decision to appeal is disappointing, but not surprising. This just prolongs what’s already a complete embarrassment for the agency. The Court already rejected the SEC’s suggestion that Ripple acted recklessly, and there were no allegations of fraud and, of course, there were no victims or losses.
Instead of faithfully applying the law, this agency, under this Chair, continues to engage in litigation warfare against the industry. We are evaluating whether to file a cross appeal. Either way, the SEC’s lawsuit has been irrational and misguided from the start, and we’re ready to prove that yet again in the appellate court (once again taking the lead for the industry).”
According to court documents shared by crypto legal expert James K. Filan, the SEC filed the notice to appeal the decision on October 2nd.
In October 2023, Judge Analisa Torres – the same judge who ruled that the retail sales of XRP do not qualify as securities – rejected the SEC’s motion to appeal the ruling. At the time, Torres said the regulatory agency failed to demonstrate that the appeal would “materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.”
The SEC first sued Ripple Labs in December 2020, claiming that the firm was in violation of the law by selling the digital asset XRP, which is used to operate its payments platform, as an unregistered security.
XRP is trading for $0.517 at time of writing, an 11.94% decrease during the last 24 hours.
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