As discussed in prior articles, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple (XRP) have been fighting it out in court over the last few years regarding XRP’s status as a potential security.
Ripple Appears to Have Beaten the SEC
The SEC has said in recent statements that the way XRP is structured and the way it was first sold to users makes it a security token. Ripple has long denied these statements, and it seems the judge overseeing the case agrees.
In a huge judgement, it appears crypto is finally earning the stamp of legitimacy it has always been searching for as US district judge for the Southern District of New York Analisa Torres ruled that the token is “not necessarily a security on its face.”
While the subject of XRP-related transactions got relatively complicated from there and opened many other doors to potential legal outcomes, the statement is being deemed a big win for crypto and Ripple, and the sentiment is spreading quickly considering following the announcement, the price of XRP surged as much as 61 percent over the course of a single day. In a statement, Torres mentioned:
XRP, as a digital token, is not in and of itself a ‘contract, transaction{,} or scheme’ that embodies the Howey requirements of an investment contract… There is no evidence that a reasonable programmatic buyer, who was generally less sophisticated as an investor, shared similar ‘understandings and expectations’ and could parse through the multiple documents and statements that the SEC highlights.
The lawsuit has been going for the last three years, as papers were first filed in late 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic. There was sentiment, in recent months, that somehow Ripple was going to pull through. That it would come out on the winning end and prove that the SEC was not invincible. It’s now made this idea become a reality.
CEO of Ripple Brad Garlinghouse celebrated the outcome on Twitter, writing:
We said in December 2020 that we were on the right side of the law, and will be on the right side of history. Thankful to everyone who helped us get to today’s decision, one that is for all crypto innovation in the U.S. More to come.
What Does This Mean for Future Cases?
While this case arguably cements crypto’s place on the financial map, it’s also proof that the SEC – despite its harsh enforcement tactics and support from government players like Joe Biden and Janet Yellen – remains vulnerable, and it’s not likely to get its way all the time.
This also opens the probability that the lawsuits it has filed against two of the world’s leading digital currency exchanges – Binance and Coinbase – could flounder as well, and thus investors have a few rays of light to look forward to.
