On October 2, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a notice of appeal in Ripple’s lawsuit seeking to overturn an earlier decision.
The agency has appealed a 2023 verdict by Judge Torres, which ruled that secondary sales of Ripple’s XRP token did not constitute sales of securities.
The judge ruled that XRP did not meet all the conditions for the SEC’s Howey test to be classified as an investment contract.
The submission was shared by defense attorney James Filan at X.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP BREAKING: The @SECGov has filed an appeal against Judge Torres’ sentence. pic.twitter.com/j8bLIZQ5LT
— James K. Filan (@FilanLaw) October 2, 2024
Ripple strikes back
Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, said the appeal was “disappointing, but not surprising.”
He added that this only prolongs what is “already a total embarrassment to the agency.”
“The Court already rejected the SEC’s suggestion that Ripple acted recklessly and there were no allegations of fraud and, of course, no casualties or losses.”
He said the SEC “continues to engage in a litigation war against the industry” before adding that the company is evaluating whether to file a cross-appeal.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also addressed X on October 3, stating that if SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and the regulator were rational, they “would have moved on from this case a long time ago “.
He promised to continue fighting as long as necessary:
“While we will fight in court for as long as we need to, let’s be clear: XRP’s status as a non-security is the law of the land today, and that doesn’t change even in the face of this misguided and infuriating error. appeal”.
If Gensler and the SEC were rational, they would have moved on from this case long ago. It certainly has failed to protect investors and instead has damaged the SEC’s credibility and reputation.
Somehow they still haven’t gotten the message: they’ve lost everything they… https://t.co/1hW7xVSL9b
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 2, 2024
Massachusetts senatorial candidate John Deaton went on a rant about X, stating that a candidate would not normally comment on an appeal:
“However, I am not your typical candidate and spent hundreds of pro bono hours and over $75,000 of my own money fighting overreach and misconduct at the SEC.”
Nearly four years after suing Ripple and making the ridiculous claims above, SEC lawyers apologized (in a different case) for suggesting the tokens themselves were securities, he said before adding:
“As the SEC pursues an anti-crypto agenda, it will now waste more taxpayer money. Gary Gensler is a disgrace.”
XRP tanks
The news has seen XRP holders aggressively selling the asset, resulting in a 12% drop on the day.
The asset was trading above $0.60 on October 2, but fell to just below $0.53 in early trading in Asia on Thursday morning.
XRP is currently at a three-week low and is still trading 84% off its January 2018 all-time high despite recent ETF applications.
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