The court received documents on outstanding issues in the case of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Ripple Labs. The regulator holds off on appealing the previous ruling, and XRP continues to grow against this backdrop.
Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York referred the SEC’s case against Ripple to Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. According to documents released by journalist Eleanor Terrett, pre-trial motions have begun, which often result in a settlement between the parties.
Unresolved are accusations by regulators that Ripple Labs sold the XRP token as a security directly to investors. The SEC insists that the marketing campaign conducted prior to the token sale emphasized aspects of XRP that could characterize the asset as a security.
In addition, the SEC still has the option to appeal to a superior court by challenging the earlier ruling. The likelihood of such a development is high, given that Gary Gensler, Chair of the SEC, expressed disappointment with the district court’s decision and said that his agency was still evaluating the situation.
However, Kathryn Haun, CEO of Haun Ventures, opined that the regulator was unlikely to appeal because losing the case could jeopardize its future enforcement actions. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, expressed a similar opinion in an interview with Bloomberg. He believes it could be “years” before the SEC files an appeal, as that process would only confirm the earlier ruling that XRP isn’t a security.
Amid Ripple’s resounding, albeit partial, victory in court, XRP surpassed BTC in terms of daily trading volume, as reported by analysts at Kaiko. According to their data, the value of XRP reached a 15-month high, and the trading volume set a ten-month record. Moreover, the market capitalization of XRP increased by $21.2 billion within hours after the release of the court decision, which allowed major cryptocurrency exchanges to list the token back. Plus, banks and financial institutions in the U.S. can now start exploring XRP for use in cross-border payments, as reported by Stu Alderoty, General Counsel of Ripple Labs, which also fueled interest in the asset.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the XRP token shouldn’t be treated as a security when sold to retail investors.
