Ripple Says SEC ‘Rushing to Appeal’ Landmark Crypto Ruling

Ripple wants to block the SEC from appealing a recent landmark crypto court ruling.

In July, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the blockchain company’s native XRP token is not a security when sold to the public. Last month, Torres gave the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permission to appeal her ruling. 

But in a court filing Friday (Sept. 1), Ripple said the regulator is “now rushing to appeal what it claims is a purely ‘legal question’ applicable to every digital-asset case.”

As PYMNTS has written, Torres’s initial ruling was seen as a victory for the broader crypto sector and for Ripple in its long-running battle with the SEC.

“I have heard from hundreds of people throughout the industry, there’s just broad enthusiasm and excitement, this is the first time the SEC lost a crypto case,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in July. “The SEC has been a bully.”

Bully or not, the SEC has been very busy regarding digital assets so far in 2023, the year — as written here last week — that the agency “went to war with crypto.”

Among its actions were the 13 charges filed in June against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, accusing the platform of engaging in “an extensive web of deception.”

One day later, the SEC sued publicly listed crypto exchange Coinbase, a Binance peer, alleging that the company had let customers trade unregistered securities. Both crypto firms have said they will fight the regulator’s charges.

“The crypto community believed and had a real conviction that what they were doing was so new that existing laws could not possibly apply to them,” Amias Gerety, partner at QED Investors, told PYMNTS in a recent interview. “Once you have that conviction, then you start searching for excuses not to comply.”

“But the SEC’s regulation by enforcement track record is not without blemishes,” PYMNTS wrote. “After all, the agency is tasked with enforcement and cannot write the laws themselves. Each of its actions must hold up in court before they are considered to be viable.”

The Ripple decision marked a stumble along the warpath. While the case is still unresolved, Ripple has essentially declared victory. The company plans to host a party in New York City on Sept. 29 to celebrate its win in court.