The
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
announced
it
would
appeal
a
federal
judge’s
ruling
in
its
case
against
Ripple
on
Wednesday.
The
federal
regulator
filed
a
“notice
of
appeal”
to
the
Second
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals,
just
under
two
months
after
Judge
Analisa
Torres
imposed
her
final
judgement
in
the
regulator’s
now
four-year-old-case
against
the
crypto
company.
In
July
2023,
the
judge
ruled
that
while
Ripple
violated
federal
securities
law
through
its
institutional
sales
of
XRP,
its
programmatic
sales
to
retail
exchanges
did
not
violate
securities
rules.
The
SEC
attempted
to
file
an
interlocutory
appeal
against
the
motion
for
summary
judgement,
but
was
denied
by
the
judge.
This
past
August,
Judge
Torres
imposed
a
$125
million
fine
against
Ripple,
well
below
the
nearly
$2
billion
the
SEC
requested
in
disgorgement,
prejudgment
interest
and
civil
penalties.
The
judge
stayed
enforcement
of
this
fine
until
after
the
SEC’s
deadline
to
file
an
appeal
had
elapsed
or
an
appeal
had
been
resolved
by
the
circuit
court.
In
a
statement,
an
SEC
spokesperson
said,
“We
believe
that
the
district
court
decision
in
the
Ripple
matter
conflicts
with
decades
of
Supreme
Court
precedent
and
securities
laws
and
look
forward
to
making
our
case
to
the
Second
Circuit.”
After
this
article’s
publication,
a
Ripple
spokesperson
referred
CoinDesk
to
tweets
by
CEO
Brad
Garlinghouse
and
Chief
Legal
Officer
Stuart
Alderoty.
“[The
SEC]
lost
on
everything
that
matters,”
Garlinghouse
tweeted.
“Ripple,
the
crypto
industry
and
the
rule
of
law
have
already
prevailed
…
XRP’s
status
as
a
non-security
is
the
law
of
the
land
today.”
Alderoty
called
the
appeal
“disappointing,
but
not
surprising.”
In
an
interview
in
August,
Alderoty
told
CoinDesk
he
expected
the
regulator
to
have
a
tough
time
convincing
an
appeals
court
to
overturn
a
district
court
judge’s
ruling.
“Even
if
they
do
appeal,
I
would
just
tell
everyone
‘take
a
deep
breath,'”
he
said
at
the
time.
While
the
SEC
filed
its
notice
of
appeal,
it
hasn’t
filed
the
appeal
itself
yet
(in
other
legal
proceedings
like
Sam
Bankman-Fried’s
criminal
case,
the
actual
appeal
has
been
filed
months
after
the
notice
of
appeal).
Earlier
Wednesday,
Bitwise
filed
an
application
to
list
and
trade
shares
of
an
exchange-traded
fund
that
would
invest
in
XRP.
UPDATE
(Oct.
2,
2024,
21:35
UTC):
Adds
additional
detail.
UPDATE
(Oct.
2,
22:05
UTC):
Adds
Garlinghouse,
Alderoty
tweets.
