End of the Journey A Finale
Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, has confirmed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not appealed the court’s ruling that XRP is not a security. This comes in response to the news that the SEC has filed a Form C civil appeal. Ripple attorney James K. Filan has also confirmed that the SEC has indeed filed documents with the Court of Appeals.
Form C is a document in which the SEC expresses its intention to appeal certain legal decisions made in a case. In the Ripple case, the SEC has asked the court to review the application of the law in a previous summary judgment. This means that the judge will analyze the legal aspects of the case, not just the final decision.
In its claim, the SEC has asked the court to reconsider the decision to sell XRP on exchanges, as well as personal sales of the token by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen. Ripple is planning to file its own cross-appeal to challenge the ruling on institutional sales. Both sides are preparing for a lengthy process that could potentially impact how digital assets are classified and regulated in the future. Alderoty has urged everyone to keep an eye on Ripple’s Form C filing this week.
Despite the ongoing disputes between the SEC and Ripple, the price of XRP has remained relatively stable, with a 1.74% increase over the past week. As of now, XRP is trading at $0.5468. The overall crypto market has also seen growth, increasing by 0.59% and reaching a capitalization of $2.36 trillion in 24 hours.
According to Alderoty, the case could continue until July 2025. He has mentioned that Ripple will also file a Form C application, in which they will outline arguments for a counter-appeal. The SEC will have 90 days to file an opening brief, and Alderoty expects them to use this time to prepare a comprehensive presentation of their arguments.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has previously commented on the company’s possibility of entering the stock market, taking into consideration the position of the SEC and the financial stability of Ripple. He stated that an IPO is not the main goal for the company, even after regulatory standards are clarified. Despite the current difficulties in the industry, Garlinghouse remains optimistic about the future of the crypto market until 2025, noting the changes in the U.S. government’s stance and increased interest from major players like BlackRock. He emphasized the importance of improving the regulatory environment but assured that Ripple has a strong financial foundation to continue its projects without an IPO.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc. and its co-founders in December 2020, accusing them of conducting unregistered sales of XRP tokens. The SEC claimed that Ripple issued billions of XRP tokens and sold them without proper registration, arguing that XRP should be classified as a security. Ripple, on the other hand, argued that XRP should be considered a digital currency similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are not classified as securities by the SEC. In July 2023, the court ruled that selling XRP to private investors is not equivalent to securities transactions, but the issue of large players purchasing tokens under a preliminary agreement remains unresolved.
