Ripple (XRP): SEC withdraws appeal lawsuit – but one question remains open

Ripple XRP: SEC withdraws appeal, but one question remains open

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has withdrawn its appeal before the U.S. District Court regarding a July 2023 decision in favor of Ripple. This is an important development in the lengthy legal dispute between Ripple, represented by XRP, and the SEC, which began in December 2020. At that time, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, accusing the company of conducting unauthorized securities transactions with XRP. Ripple defended itself against this and succeeded in getting the court to largely side with the company in July 2023.

The SEC has now officially informed the responsible court that it will not pursue the decision anymore, bringing Ripple’s preliminary victory to a legal consensus. However, an area of the judgment remains open: the evaluation of the responsibility of Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse (CEO) and Chris Larsen (co-founder) is yet to be legally clarified. That matter will be examined separately in 2024. Thus, the legal conflict between Ripple and the SEC has reached an interim result, but not yet a complete final outcome.

The case against Ripple has attracted international attention because the SEC’s position on the classification of cryptocurrencies as securities could affect the entire industry. In July, the court sided with Ripple on crucial points. Essentially, it was administratively decided that XRP sales are not considered a security transaction, except when directly sold to institutional investors. However, this ruling applied primarily to U.S. law. The SEC had initially announced an appeal against the judgment but now refrains from doing so.

Ripple paid a fine to the SEC years ago to avoid similar proceedings in Switzerland. Ripple had already announced last year their plans to move more business activities to regions with clear crypto regulations. The legal dispute did not prevent Ripple from expanding its ecosystem and continuing to secure new partnerships. Coinbase, a major crypto exchange in the U.S., relisted XRP following the court’s July ruling.