Ripple vs SEC far from over as regulator appeals Judge Torres ruling, enforcement director departs agency
- SEC announced that its Enforcement Director, Gurbir Grewal, will leave office after a three-year tenure
- The regulator appealed Judge Torres' ruling in its case against Ripple Labs.
- XRP ETF is unlikely to see approval following the SEC's appeal.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an appeal against Judge Analisa Torres's ruling in its case against Ripple Labs on Wednesday, a few hours after its Enforcement Director, Gurbir Grewal, stepped down from his role in the agency.
SEC files for appeal against XRP despite departure of Enforcement Director
The SEC revealed that Gurbir Grewal, one of its top officials who has served as its Enforcement Director, will be leaving office on October 11. Gurbir has led the Enforcement Division for the last three years.
Under his tenure, more than 100 enforcement actions were taken against the crypto industry, including the cases against Ripple and Coinbase. He also oversaw $20 billion in penalties across 2400 actions taken.
He will temporarily be replaced by Sanjay Wadhwa, currently acting as Deputy Director in the Division.
"I'm pleased that Sanjay Wadhwa has said yes to taking on the Acting Director role. He has served as part of a remarkable leadership team, along with Gurbir, as Deputy Director and has been with the agency for more than two decades," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
Several crypto community members celebrated the news concerning Gurbir's departure, indicating that this could spell bad news for the Gensler administration.
However, the victory seemed short-lived, as the SEC filed an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concerning Judge Analisa Torres's final ruling in August in the regulator's case against Ripple Labs.
The ruling in August saw Judge Torres imposing a $125 million penalty on Ripple Labs instead of the $2 billion sought by the SEC.
The court issued a permanent injunction against Ripple, preventing future violations of securities laws related to XRP sales, but did not find evidence of fraud or misconduct.
Following the SEC's appeal, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted in an X post on Wednesday:
If Gensler and the SEC were rational, they would have moved on from this case long ago. It certainly hasn’t protected investors and instead has damaged the credibility and reputation of the SEC.
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 2, 2024
Somehow, they still haven't gotten the message: they lost on everything that… https://t.co/1hW7xVSL9b
Ripple Labs Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, added that the company is considering filing a cross-appeal.
"Instead of faithfully applying the law, this agency, under this Chair, continues to engage in litigation warfare against the industry. We are evaluating whether to file a cross appeal," said Alderoty.
The SEC's appeal came only a few hours after asset manager Bitwise filed an S-1 for an XRP ETF, making it highly unlikely that the product will see approval soon.
SEC vs Ripple lawsuit FAQs
It depends on the transaction, according to a court ruling released on July 14: For institutional investors or over-the-counter sales, XRP is a security. For retail investors who bought the token via programmatic sales on exchanges, on-demand liquidity services and other platforms, XRP is not a security.
The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Ripple and its executives of raising more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered asset offering of the XRP token. While the judge ruled that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, sales of XRP tokens to institutional investors are indeed investment contracts. In this last case, Ripple did breach the US securities law and had to pay a $125 million civil fine.
The ruling offers a partial win for both Ripple and the SEC, depending on what one looks at. Ripple gets a big win over the fact that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, and this could bode well for the broader crypto sector as most of the assets eyed by the SEC’s crackdown are handled by decentralized entities that sold their tokens mostly to retail investors via exchange platforms, experts say. Still, the ruling doesn’t help much to answer the key question of what makes a digital asset a security, so it isn’t clear yet if this lawsuit will set precedent for other open cases that affect dozens of digital assets. Topics such as which is the right degree of decentralization to avoid the “security” label or where to draw the line between institutional and programmatic sales persist.
The SEC has stepped up its enforcement actions toward the blockchain and digital assets industry, filing charges against platforms such as Coinbase or Binance for allegedly violating the US Securities law. The SEC claims that the majority of crypto assets are securities and thus subject to strict regulation. While defendants can use parts of Ripple’s ruling in their favor, the SEC can also find reasons in it to keep its current strategy of regulation by enforcement.
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