U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled July 13 that the sale of XRP on public exchanges complies with federal securities laws. However, the SEC has asked that a federal appeals court be allowed to review its decision. The commission said the appeal may involve legal issues on which there are “substantial grounds for difference of opinion.”
The SEC has argued for years that cryptoassets are securities and it has the authority to regulate them. In December 2020, the regulator sued Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, accusing them of illegally raising more than $1.3 billion through the sale of unregistered securities.
Judge Torres must now decide whether to allow the SEC to appeal her decision and stay the case. Earlier, SEC lawyers said the judge’s ruling “exonerating” Ripple’s secondary market operations was wrong and should be reconsidered soon.
In addition to the cases against Ripple, the Commission is also pursuing cases against Coinbase and Binance. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler recently said that the cryptocurrency market is “rife with fraudsters and peddlers,” so investors getting involved with crypto assets should be warned about the lack of protection.