SEC wants 2nd Circuit to overrule Ripple XRP decision
The SEC wants to appeal two rulings by US District Judge Analisa Torres in the landmark case SEC v. Ripple. In her highly anticipated ruling, Torres agreed with the SEC that Ripple’s $728 million worth of institutional sales of XRP were illegal. However, Torres denied the SEC’s allegation that Ripple’s $1.3 billion of programmatic sales of XRP plus other distributions were illegal. The SEC wants to appeal these two denials. Citing “controlling questions of law on which there is substantial ground for differences of opinion” that affect a litany of other lawsuits, commissioners have requested interlocutory review to a higher court, the US Second Circuit. The SEC wants a higher court to overrule Torres. If Torres grants the commissioners’ request, she will pause litigation and not publish final judgments while interlocutory (and subsequent appellate) reviews of her rulings proceed. In short, most XRP transactions might still be securities transactions. In contrast to the oft-...