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Ripple has formally filed a notice of cross-appeal in its long-running legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The complaint, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, is Ripple’s bid to challenge the SEC’s appeal filed earlier this month.
Ripple cross-appeals in SEC lawsuit
Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderroti said today that the San Francisco-based payments and fintech company has filed a lawsuit with the SEC to keep it “off the table, including the argument that there can be no ‘investment agreement.’ “We have announced that we have filed a reciprocal appeal.” Without the mandatory rights and obligations set out in the contract. ”
Alderoti noted that the SEC previously said it did not intend to appeal the ruling that XRP itself is not a security, suggesting that the token itself may qualify as a security. The SEC even added that it was forced to apologize. Alderoty said that appeals on other issues in the ongoing litigation will not change XRP’s non-security status.
Last year, the SEC previously sought to file an interlocutory appeal, or midterm appeal, against Ripple’s exchange sales of XRP and the company’s other token distributions. Ripple CLOs believe regulators will likely target them again, “and they will lose on both once again.”
“We hope that a federal appeals court will finally put a knife to the heart of Gensler’s false attacks on our industry,” he added.
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In early August, a court ordered Ripple to pay $125 million to resolve charges surrounding unregistered institutional sales of XRP tokens. Although the penalty exceeds the $10 million proposed by Ripple, it is significantly lower than the $2 billion originally requested by the SEC, which includes extensive disgorgement and pre-judgment interest. The judge also ruled that XRP tokens sold on the secondary market do not qualify as securities.
“It will decide the fate of the SEC.”
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse comments on the news of the company’s cross-appeal, writing in an He emphasized that he would accept this and move on. However, he notes that Wall Street watchdogs are more interested in “causing havoc” than in providing regulatory clarity for the U.S. cryptocurrency industry.
“We look forward to determining the fate of the SEC and ultimately ending the SEC’s enforcement regulatory challenges,” Garlinghouse concluded. “Ripple was an industry leader in the first courtroom round and we look forward to leading the way in this round as well.”
