SEC Appeal of XRP Non-Security Status Unlikely, Says Former Agency Lawyer

The SEC v. Ripple lawsuit is nearly four years old. Now it's over. Maybe. This is after Ripple was ordered to pay $125 million for its federal securities violations involving sales of the XRP token to institutional clients.

The SEC v. Ripple lawsuit, which began nearly four years ago, may not be over yet, with speculation arising over a possible appeal by the securities regulator.

After Ripple was ordered to pay $125 million for its federal securities violations involving sales of the XRP token to institutional clients, and the SEC agreed to hold 111% of the monetary judgment amount in a bank account until 30 days “after the time to appeal expires or the resolution of any appeal,” the possibility of an appeal seems clear.

Marc Fagel, a former SEC securities lawyer who worked at the agency for 16 years, has provided his insights on what a potential appeal could look like.

Here's a quick recap: In late 2020, the SEC filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against Ripple, alleging that the San Francisco-based blockchain payments firm violated securities laws in its sale of XRP.

In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that while Ripple had broken securities laws in how it sold XRP directly to institutional customers, the firm did not violate any laws in its sale of XRP to retail clients through exchanges. During the same year, the SEC's attempt to file an interlocutory appeal on portions of this decision was denied, and later, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chairman Chris Larsen were cleared of all charges in October.

Finally, last month, the judge ruled that Ripple must pay $125 million in fines and face an injunction against future violations of the law.

If the SEC decides to appeal, it will have 60 days from the publication of the ruling to file a notice. Some lawyers believe that an appeal is likely, given the precedent set by the ruling on secondary transactions, which could be unfavorable to the SEC.

However, according to former SEC attorney Marc Fagel, the SEC cannot directly appeal the court's conclusion that XRP is not a security in secondary market transactions.

Fagel explains that the SEC can only appeal whether the programmatic sales were programmatically sales, which could be المواد القانونية - مواد قانونية متنوعةs without deciding whether XRP is a security.

He adds that the court of appeals could answer this question without deciding whether XRP is an unregistered security, which remains a peripheral issue - hence its inclusion as dicta in the district court’s opinion.

Despite the favorable outcome for Ripple thus far, an appeal by the SEC could further delay the highly anticipated regulatory clarity on XRP's status as a security.

According to Ripple's legal chief, if the SEC appeals the court's decision, it will face an uphill battle, as appeals courts rarely overturn district court judges' decisions.

At the time of writing, XRP trades at $0.5363, showing an increase of approximately 2.4% over the last 24 hours.

The above is the detailed content of SEC Appeal of XRP Non-Security Status Unlikely, Says Former Agency Lawyer. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!