- U.S. judge’s ruling favors Ripple Labs, finding no violation of securities regulations in XRP sales.
- XRP experiences a significant surge of nearly 29% following the judge’s decision.
- The ruling potentially sets a legal precedent for the upcoming SEC case against Ripple.
On Thursday, a U.S. judge delivered a significant legal triumph for the cryptocurrency sector, ruling that Ripple Labs Inc. did not breach federal securities regulations when it sold its XRP token on public exchanges. Judge Paul Barbadoro of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire rendered a ruling on July 11 in the case brought by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the decentralized content platform LBRY.
The recent ruling potentially provided a legal precedent that could influence Judge Analisa Torres, a district court judge who will be making a decision on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Ripple in the upcoming months. Following the news of a judge’s ruling, XRP, the cryptocurrency powering Ripple’s payments ecosystem, experienced a significant surge of almost 29% within a span of less than an hour. his ruling, Barbadoro stated:
Accordingly, I take no position on whether the registration requirement applies to secondary market offerings of LBC.
Judge Paul Barbadoro
Following the news of a judge’s ruling, XRP, the cryptocurrency powering Ripple’s payments ecosystem, experienced a significant surge of almost 29% within a span of less than an hour. At the time of writing, based on data from CoinGecko, the current price of XRP has exceeded $0.60, indicating a remarkable surge of approximately 29% within the last 24 hours. Prior to the news, the coin was trading at around $0.47 during the same period.
Since May 2022, XRP has not been traded at the $0.60 level. During that time, a market-wide downturn impacted the broader cryptocurrency industry. Additionally, the ongoing legal battle with the SEC has arguably contributed to the suppressed price of Ripple.
Nevertheless, the implications of the ruling are yet to be fully understood. The judge’s decision specified that programmatic sales of XRP do not meet the criteria for securities, while institutional sales of the cryptocurrency do qualify as securities. This outcome potentially introduces a new framework in which the method of selling a cryptocurrency, as well as the associated marketing and messaging, could determine its classification as a security.
In the realm of securities trading, a secondary market refers to the platform where traders engage in buying and selling securities. On the other hand, a primary market involves direct trading between the company issuing the security and potential investors.
John Deaton, a U.S. lawyer representing numerous XRP token-holders, reached out to Barbadoro on July 11 to seek clarification regarding the status of LBC as a security. Deaton reported that Barbadoro ultimately opted to maintain his “judicial restraint” in this matter.
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple Labs, expressed his joy regarding the ruling in a tweet on Thursday.
He celebrated the decision, stating that they had maintained their position of being on the right side of the law since December 2020 and would be on the right side of history. Garlinghouse expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to reaching this outcome, emphasizing that it is a victory for all cryptocurrency innovations in the United States. He also hinted at more developments to come.
