Ripple Labs has taken its legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the next level by submitting a cross-appeal on October 10.
This follows the SEC’s own appeal, which was filed earlier on October 2. The SEC’s appeal challenges a court ruling that XRP
XRP
$0.5355
is not classified as a security when sold on public crypto exchanges.
Both Ripple’s cross-appeal and the SEC’s appeal will now be reviewed by the appellate court.
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Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, addressed the situation on X. He emphasized that Ripple’s cross-appeal aims to ensure all legal bases surrounding the case are covered, including the definition of an “investment contract,” a central aspect of the SEC’s lawsuit.
The origins of this conflict can be traced back to 2020, when the SEC accused Ripple of conducting an unregistered securities offering through the sale of its cryptocurrency, XRP.
A major ruling came in July 2023, when Judge Analisa Torres determined that while Ripple’s sales of XRP to institutional buyers violated securities laws, its sales to the broader public, developers, and employees did not.
In August, Ripple was ordered to pay a $125 million fine for the sales that violated the law, much lower than the $2 billion the SEC had initially aimed for. Nonetheless, the fine has been postponed due to the appeal.
Both sides are expected to submit more arguments soon, though the timeline remains unclear. It is also still uncertain whether the SEC’s focus will be on fines or XRP’s classification.
Gode is a Web3 Market Analyst who researches the most important industry events and interprets how they affect the wider Web3 space. Her formal education in media culture & digital rhetoric allows her to employ a methodical approach to evaluating critical Web3 news data, including large-scale events and the wider social sentiment within the ecosystem.Gode is a mutilingual professional, having studied in multiple universities all across Europe. This allows her to have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to analyze Web3 social sentiments spanning different cultures and languages and, in turn, develop a much deeper understanding of how the Web3 space is growing within different communities. With the rest of her team, Gode works to identify crucial crypto news patterns and provide unbiased and data-driven information.Gode’s passions include working and communicating with people, and when she’s not researching Web3 news, she spends her time traveling and watching true crime documentaries.
