Ripple is in a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and recently, its lawyers had something to say about the SEC's attempt to appeal the case. They argued that the SEC doesn't have valid reasons to request an appeal.
In a filing made on September 1st in a New York court, Ripple's legal team pointed out that the SEC's appeal was mainly based on its dissatisfaction with a previous court decision. That decision had ruled that XRP, Ripple's cryptocurrency, should not be considered a security when sold to regular investors. The lawyers argued that the SEC didn't meet the necessary conditions to seek an appeal and asked the judge to deny their request.
Ripple's statement also mentioned that the SEC didn't even try to meet the standards required for such an appeal, despite being advised to do so by the Individual Defendants. Ripple, in unity with the Individual Defendants, opposed the SEC's request.
In August, the SEC decided to appeal the July court decision made by Judge Analisa Torres, who had ruled that XRP didn't fall under the SEC's security regulations. The SEC claimed that there were significant differences in opinions regarding the applicable laws.
The SEC initially filed a lawsuit against Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020. This led to several exchanges delisting XRP to avoid legal troubles. However, after Judge Torres' decision, many of these exchanges started considering relisting XRP.
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple's CEO, expressed his frustration with the SEC in a tweet, stating that it's unfortunate that many in the U.S. crypto community have to rely on legal proceedings to show that the SEC is often wrong when it comes to the facts and the law.
In 2023, the SEC has been going after various crypto companies for alleged securities violations, including Binance and Coinbase. On August 29th, asset manager Grayscale won a court victory against the SEC, which ordered a review of its application for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple is still ongoing, and Judge Torres has proposed a jury trial for the case starting in the second quarter of 2024.