Ripple Wins Final SEC Appeal – XRP Classified as Non-Security

Ripple Wins Final SEC Appeal, XRP Classified as Non-Security

Ripple Labs has won the final appeal in its long-running legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with the appellate court affirming that XRP is not a security when sold on secondary markets to retail investors. The ruling effectively ends a legal saga that began in December 2020 and has been one of the most closely watched regulatory cases in the cryptocurrency industry.

The court's decision upholds the 2023 district court ruling by Judge Analisa Torres, which distinguished between institutional sales of XRP (which were found to be securities offerings) and programmatic sales on exchanges (which were not). The SEC had appealed this distinction, arguing that all XRP sales should be classified as securities transactions.

Industry-Wide Implications

The final ruling has significant implications for the broader cryptocurrency industry. Legal experts note that the decision establishes a clearer framework for determining when a digital asset sale constitutes a securities offering versus a secondary market transaction. This distinction is expected to influence how other ongoing and future SEC enforcement actions against crypto projects are resolved.

XRP's price surged 25% following the ruling, reaching $3.80 and briefly entering the top three cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the ruling "a victory for the entire crypto industry" and announced plans to accelerate Ripple's cross-border payment partnerships with banks worldwide.

Several crypto exchanges that had delisted XRP during the legal proceedings, including Coinbase and Kraken in certain jurisdictions, have announced plans to relist the token for US customers.

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