The battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission is not over.
Yesterday, SEC appealed the $125 Million judgment against Ripple.
The case, which is now as old as a human toddler — with its four-year anniversary coming up in December — has been a long and hard-fought court case between the two parties.
The SEC, as well as Ripple, had to make a decision by the 7th of October on whether they would pursue an appeal.
Blockworks was told by a spokesperson from the SEC that the SEC filed an appeal as it believed the decision to be unjust. “conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and securities laws.”
Although there is a great deal of uncertainty about the outcome, one thing that’s certain is the fact that the appeal process will be prolonged and could also affect more than just Ripple.
For example, it could dampen expectations for a future Bitwise XRP exchange-traded fund. On Wednesday, the firm submitted its registration statement to create a possible ETF. Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn cautioned that Bitwise has a low chance of being successful. “drops to near zero” You can appeal to the court.
Ripple and SEC have both won and lost some games over the years.
Torres, the judge who presided over the case in July 2012, handed down the largest decision ever: Ripple programmatic sales did not qualify as investment contracts. Torres’ decision that institutional sales were investment contracts was a double-edged blade.
“The vast majority of individuals who purchased XRP from digital asset exchanges did not invest their money in Ripple at all. An Institutional Buyer knowingly purchased XRP directly from Ripple pursuant to a contract, but the economic reality is that a Programmatic Buyer stood in the same shoes as a secondary market purchaser who did not know to whom or what it was paying its money,” She wrote it at the time.
The SEC initially sought to interlocutory challenge the decision, but this was denied.
We’re finally here. Not surprisingly, the SEC appealed. The SEC didn’t always win in the end. You could say that Ripple also didn’t win. Lawyers we talked to said that they weren’t surprised by an appeal.
The SEC was seeking a whopping $2 billion as part of the verdict. Ripple wanted $10 million, a much lower amount. Torres eventually announced Ripple was willing to pay $125million. The $125 million is closer to the amount Ripple requested than to the SEC’s multi-billion dollar demand.
Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s Chief Legal officer and a former lawyer at the company’s legal department was not also surprised by this appeal. “disappointing.”
“The Court already rejected the SEC’s suggestion that Ripple acted recklessly, and there were no allegations of fraud and, of course, there were no victims or losses,” He added.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, reiterated Ripple’s commitment to fighting. He was blunt about his appeal.
“If Gensler and the SEC were rational, they would have moved on from this case long ago. It certainly hasn’t protected investors and instead has damaged the credibility and reputation of the SEC,” Garlinghouse said. “Somehow, they still haven’t gotten the message: They lost on everything that matters. Ripple, the crypto industry, and the rule of law have already prevailed.”
Did you know that over $140 billion dollars in Bitcoin, or about 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply, is currently locked in inaccessible wallets? Or maybe you have lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? Don’t let those funds remain out of reach! AI Seed Phrase Finder is here to help you regain access effortlessly. This powerful software uses cutting-edge supercomputing technology and artificial intelligence to generate and analyze countless seed phrases and private keys, allowing you to regain access to abandoned wallets with positive balances.
