Ripple (XRP) is not a Security, US Federal Judge Rules

On July 13 2023, Federal District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Ripple (XRP), is not a security.

The case between SEC and Ripple, has one of the long-awaited cases in the crypto space and community, while Ripple Labs has been at odds with the SEC since December 2020, as the commission alleged that Ripple CEO Bradley Garlinghouse and Chairman Christian Larsen, raised over $1.3 Billion in an illegal offering using XRP.

Judge Torres concluded that $728 million worth of Ripple’s institutional sales did indeed constitute such sales. However, she ruled that programmatic sales to the public and XRP distributions to Ripple Labs employees were not unregistered securities sales.

The judge held that the XRP token itself is not a security, but the transactions and schemes around trading it need to discuss.

The Judge: "XRP, as a digital token, is not in and of itself a contract, transaction, or scheme that embodies the Howey requirements of an investment… pic.twitter.com/zIAXeuwHGr

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 13, 2023

Crypto.News has shared a detailed report of the court proceeding and how Judge Torres reached the decision, using the three-pronged Howey test.

Since the decision came out, the XRP token has been on a crazy upward trend. Growing at a pace of 72.54% in the past 24 hours.

The lawsuit and its subsequent ruling come when the SEC is increasingly scrutinizing the crypto industry, with actions against firms such as Kraken, Nexo, and BlockFi.