Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, has said that he will fight the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s latest appeal about XRP’s legal standing. A district court decision that XRP is not a security when sold on public cryptocurrency markets led the SEC to decide to file an appeal.
Garlinghouse wrote on social media, “Somehow, they still haven’t gotten the message: they lost on everything that matters,” to show how upset he was. He made it clear that XRP is still not a security, even though the SEC’s argument was clearly misguided and annoying.
Ripple is being sued by the SEC because, in December 2020, the SEC said the company raised more than $1.3 billion by selling assets that weren’t listed with the SEC. In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres made a big decision in favor of Ripple. She said that trades of XRP on secondary markets do not count as securities. However, the judge said that selling XRP to institutional buyers should have followed securities laws. This led to Ripple being fined $125 million, which is currently being held up while the appeal is heard.
Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, agreed with Garlinghouse and said that the SEC’s appeal was upsetting but to be expected. He also said that Ripple is thinking about whether to file a cross-appeal in reaction.
Legal experts say that the reviews process could last until 2026, and that the Second Circuit court will take a long time to make a decision. This timeline makes things even less clear about XRP and the rules that govern cryptocurrency in the US in general.
As the fight goes on, it shows how it could affect the whole crypto business. The SEC saw Ripple’s first win as a turning point for other coins that were being looked at in the same way. The court case is still going on, and the result could affect future rules that affect digital assets and crypto exchanges.
Even though the SEC is making things hard, interest in XRP is still high, and big players are still excited about it. The situation shows how strong Ripple is and how determined it is to deal with changing regulations. As Garlinghouse said, “We’ll fight in court for as long as we need to.
