Table of Contents
ToggleSEC will file another appeal against Ripple case
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to appeal a previous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit against Ripple, according to documents on Wednesday. An SEC spokesperson told the media:
“We believe the district court’s ruling in Ripple conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and securities laws, and we look forward to making our position clear to the Second Circuit.”
Regarding this appeal, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse posted on social media platform X:
“They don’t seem to understand yet: they lost on all critical points. Ripple, the cryptocurrency industry, and the rule of law have won. We will continue to fight in court, but let everyone be clear: XRP’s status as a non-security is current The law is established and that will not change even in the face of this wrongful and outrageous appeal."
On the other hand, Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty also said that Ripple is considering a cross-appeal. This means Ripple has the option to appeal the judge’s ruling on the institutional sale or the $125 million fine. Both appeals will be resolved in a case in the Second Circuit.
The whole story of the SEC v. Ripple case
As early as 2020, the SEC accused Ripple of violating securities laws by selling XRP tokens. The SEC believes that XRP is an unregistered security, and Ripple has raised more than $1.3 billion through the sale of such unregistered securities.
In the ruling in July this year, the judge made a key decision: Ripple was not deemed to have violated securities laws when it sold XRP in a "planned sale"; however, selling XRP directly to institutional investors was. It is considered to fall within the scope of securities trading.
However, the SEC disagreed with this ruling and appealed. District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York ruled in August that Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP to retail customers through its trading platform did not violate federal securities laws. However, Ripple's 1,278 "institutional sales transactions" did violate securities laws, so Ripple was fined $125.035 million. Even so, the $125 million fine is still far less than the $1 billion in disgorgement and $900 million in civil penalties originally requested by the SEC.
