End of the Line The Conclusion
Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, has stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not filed an appeal against the court’s decision that XRP is not a security. This statement from the lawyer comes in response to the news of the SEC filing a Form C civil appeal, which was confirmed by Ripple attorney James K. Filan.
Form C, also known as the “Civil Appeal Pre-Argument Statement,” is a document through which the SEC expresses its intention to appeal certain legal decisions made in a case. In the Ripple case, the SEC has requested the court to review how the law was applied in a previous summary judgment. This means that the judge will analyze the legal aspects of the case, not just the final decision.
The SEC has asked the court to reconsider its decision regarding the sale of Ripple (XRP) tokens on exchanges, as well as the personal sales of the token by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen. Ripple is preparing to file its own cross-appeal to challenge the ruling on institutional sales, and both parties are gearing up for a lengthy process that could potentially change the classification and regulation of digital assets in the future. Alderoty has urged everyone to pay attention to Ripple’s Form C filing this week.
Amidst this latest news, the price of XRP has remained relatively stable, with the asset’s price increasing by 1.74% over the past week and trading at $0.5468. This has slightly contributed to the overall crypto market growth, which has increased by 0.59% and reached a capitalization of $2.36 trillion in 24 hours.
Alderoty has predicted that the dispute between the SEC and Ripple could continue until July 2025. He mentioned that the crypto project will also file a Form C application, outlining arguments for a counter-appeal. The SEC will have 90 days to file an opening brief, and Alderoty expects the regulator to use this time to prepare a comprehensive presentation of its arguments.
On the topic of Ripple conducting an initial public offering (IPO), Garlinghouse has commented that the company’s possibility of entering the stock market is affected by the SEC’s position and the financial stability of Ripple. He expressed that an IPO is not the main goal for the company, and despite the current difficulties in the industry, he remains optimistic about the future of the crypto market until 2025. He also noted the changing positions of the U.S. government and increased interest from major players such as BlackRock, indicating a growing interest from institutional investors in blockchain technologies and their capabilities.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc. and its co-founders, Christian Larson and Jed McCaleb in December 2020. The lawsuit was based on the accusation that they conducted unwarranted sales of XRP tokens, which the SEC considered to be unregistered securities. Ripple argued that XRP should not be considered a security but a digital currency similar to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). In July 2023, the court recognized that selling XRP to private investors cannot be equated to securities transactions. However, the issue of large players purchasing tokens under a preliminary agreement remains open.
