The SEC (United States Securities and Exchange Commission) has filed a request to the court to allow its appeal motion regarding a verdict given in the lawsuit with Ripple Labs. The verdict stated that Ripple’s XRP token cannot be used as a security asset when they are purchased by retailers.
SEC Is Not Willing To Give Up The Fight
The argument of the SEC is that there are “knotty” legal issues regarding how the court had decided to apply the law to the case. Among them, the Howey test particularly needs a review, according to the agency. As per the filing made on September 8th, the agency requested New York’s Southern District’s District Court to allow it interlocutory motion. As such, the request includes the court postponing any other proceedings until the said appeal is resolved.
In July, Analisa Torres, the judge, had given the verdict that XRP cannot be considered as a general security under the guidelines of the SEC. This is particularly the case when the tokens’ distribution takes place through programmatic sales, for example, purchased by retail through exchanges. In the most recent filing, the agency stated the verdict regarding programmatic sales, among the other distributions, raised legal questions. The SEC believes these have enough significance to let the court approve the interlocutory appeal.
As per the suggestion of the SEC, this is primarily because of a legally dubious area regarding the position of particular crypto assets when it comes to their categorization as investment contracts when determined by the Howey test. They further added that other cases’ court proceedings also highlighted this. However, the sentiments stand in contradiction to the past statements made by the SEC as well as Gary Gensler, the Chair of the agency.
