District Court Judge Analisa Torres has rejected the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) motion to appeal its losses in the case against Ripple Labs, the issuer of XRP tokens.
In her court order dated October 3, Judge Torres denied the SEC's motion, stating that the SEC had not met its burden to demonstrate a controlling legal issue or a significant difference of opinion in the matter. She said, "The SEC's motion to certify the interlocutory appeal is denied, and the SEC's request for a stay is denied as moot."
However, it's important to note that this decision doesn't represent a complete loss for the SEC. Judge Torres has scheduled a trial for April 23, 2024, to resolve the remaining issues in the case. Following the news of this decision, the price of XRP surged by nearly 6%, according to TradingView.
On July 13, Judge Torres ruled partially in favor of Ripple, stating that retail sales of XRP tokens did not meet the legal definition of a security. Nonetheless, the court found that Ripple had violated securities laws by directly selling XRP tokens to institutional investors.
In August, the SEC appealed this decision, arguing that there was a "significant difference of opinion" concerning current law. As of the time of this report, Ripple Labs and the SEC have not responded to requests for comment.
The SEC initially filed a lawsuit against Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020, leading many cryptocurrency exchanges to delist XRP tokens to avoid potential legal repercussions. Following Judge Torres' ruling in July, several cryptocurrency companies indicated their intention to relist XRP or explore doing so in the future.
The SEC has been targeting various cryptocurrency companies for alleged securities violations recently, including major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. On August 29, asset manager Grayscale secured a legal victory against the SEC after the SEC sought a review of its application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
