On July 13, Judge Analisa Torres issued a partial ruling in favour of Ripple Labs in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that dates back to 2020, giving the firm a victory in the Southern District of New York’s federal court system.
As per documents submitted on July 13, Judge Torres awarded summary judgement in favour of Ripple Labs, concluding that the XRP token is not a security, but only with respect to algorithmic sales on digital asset exchanges.
The federal judge found that XRP is a security when offered to financial institutions because it satisfies the requirements of the Howey Test, which was another success for the SEC.
The SEC lawsuit claimed that XRP constituted security and hence needed further regulation because it was being offered by Ripple as a means of payment.
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgement was granted as to the Programmatic Sales, the Other Distributions, and the sales by Larsen and Garlinghouse, but DENIED as to the Institutional Sales,” the ruling states.
After the news was announced, the price of XRP shot up from $0.45 to $0.61 in a matter of minutes. At the time of writing this article, the percentage increase in price of token is 68%.
Since December 2020, when the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple and its two main executives, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, over claims that the business was marketing an unregistered security.
The case has experienced its share of exciting interest over the last three years, involving the publication of the “Hinman Documents” and persistent opposition from Garlinghouse against the SEC’s allegations.
Along with the XRP token surging on the news and other tangible activity, the overall mood in the cryptocurrency world seems to be one of joy.
