The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a notice of appeal in the Ripple lawsuit on October 2, 2024, seeking to overturn Judge Analisa Torres' previous ruling.

Legal experts have predicted that the SEC will appeal Judge Torres’ 2023 ruling, which determined that secondary transactions of XRP from Ripple do not constitute securities transactions.

Judge Torres ruled that XRP is not a security per se, as the digital asset does not meet all of the criteria in the SEC’s Howey test for classifying a financial asset as an investment contract.

SEC Notice of Appeal | Source: James K. Filan.

Therefore, the secondary transactions could not be considered unregistered securities transactions, Judge Torres ruled. However, she also noted that the initial transactions from Ripple’s founders to institutional investors constituted securities transactions due to the way they were executed.

The ruling was seen as a major victory for Ripple Labs and the cryptocurrency industry at large at the time.

Immediately after the SEC filed its appeal, the XRP token price dropped more than 10%, from $0.6 to $0.52, before recovering to $0.54 at the moment.

XRP 1-hour price chart | Source: TradingView

SEC Enforcement Director Resigns

On the same day that the SEC filed a notice of appeal in the Ripple lawsuit, the agency announced that its director of enforcement, Gurbir Grewal, would be stepping down on October 11.

Grewal has long been criticized for taking strict enforcement actions against the crypto industry, with over 100 separate enforcement actions during his tenure.

Gurbir Grewal

Grewal has not been formally replaced by the regulator, however, Sanjay Wadhwa – deputy director of the SEC’s enforcement division – has been named interim enforcement director pending the search for a permanent replacement.

Previously, in December 2020, then-SEC Chairman Jay Clayton also filed a lawsuit against Ripple just 1 day before he resigned.

Bitwise Files for XRP ETF Trust

Interest in XRP may be growing among institutional investors. As Bitcoin Magazine reported yesterday, Bitwise filed paperwork for an XRP ETF in the state of Delaware on September 30. The filing, which appeared on the Delaware Division of Corporations website, suggests the company is exploring the possibility of establishing an XRP trust.

However, the initial filing in Delaware is not an SEC filing, and due to the recent legal appeal, SEC approval of the XRP trust may be delayed.

Case Schedule

According to attorney Fred Rispoli writing on X, we'll have to wait until January or March 2026 for results, not this season.

Here is the timeline of appeals in the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit:

  • The SEC summary is expected to be filed on December 2, 2024. The SEC will likely request a 30-day extension, so the filing deadline would be shortly after January 1, 2025.

  • Ripple will appeal in opposition. Ripple's opening brief will be filed around the same time.

  • Opposition briefs are due around February 2, 2025. Ripple may extend the deadline, so the filing deadline is March 2, 2025.

  • Response briefs will be submitted by the end of March 2025.

  • An oral argument is scheduled for around September-October 2025.

  • A ruling from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals is expected in January 2026 at the earliest, but likely in March or April 2026.

As the SEC has appealed the ruling that XRP sales on secondary exchanges are not securities, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said Ripple is considering filing a cross-appeal.

This means Ripple can choose to appeal Judge Torres’ ruling that the sale of XRP to institutions was an investment contract or the $125 million penalty.

Both appeals will be combined into one case before the Court of Appeals. If Ripple decides to file a cross-appeal, it has 14 days to do so, starting tomorrow, according to Fox Business News reporter Eleanor Terrett.


Source: https://tapchibitcoin.io/sec-nop-don-khang-cao-trong-vu-kien-ripple-gia-xrp-giam-10.html