Breaking news on the ongoing legal dispute between Ripple Labs Inc. and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been reported frequently during the previous 24 hours. One of the most important pieces of information to emerge was that the market regulator intended to appeal the decision made in response to its interlocutory request; according to Ripple General Counsel Stuart Alderoty, the business will react to the appeal in the next week.
Alderoty asserts that the XRP judgement, which now holds that the digital currency is not in and of itself a security or investment contract, does not currently provide the SEC the “right” to appeal. Alderoty emphasises how much consent is required for the SEC to submit the appeal that Chairman Gary Gensler suggested will be submitted sooner.
If the anticipated appeal is successful, it will seriously complicate the Ripple v. SEC case since it would leave Judge Analisa Torres’ decision in a state of free-flowing ambiguity. The truth is that there is a decent chance the decision might be overturned in the long run, despite the fact that many legal experts who have been following the case have forecasted what would come out of such an appeal.
Precedent not yet set
Since institutional sales of XRP were classified as investment contracts rather than just secondary sales on exchanges, Judge Torres’ decision perfectly favoured the SEC and Ripple Labs.
If allowed to stand, the portion that favoured the blockchain payments business would set a significant precedent and provide other prominent digital currencies like Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), and Filecoin (FIL), which have previously been classified as securities by the SEC, a foundation on which to defend themselves.
The jury trial, which Judge Torres has set to begin during the second quarter of next year, will be closely watched by the community due to the resurgence of interest in the case.
