Judge’s Ruling on Ripple’s XRP Token Gives Crypto Industry a Victory

The cryptocurrency industry won an early round in its court battle with U.S. regulators when a federal judge determined that the offering of a digital asset called XRP was not in violation of securities laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) has argued for years that these assets amount to securities, like stocks and bonds traded on Wall Street, and as such should be subject to the same strict regulations. In response, the S.E.C. filed legal kicks against two of the bigger crypto exchanges last month, accusing them of not being a registered securities seller.

In a landmark 34-page judgement on Thursday, Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York mentioned that Ripple did not break the law. The S.E.C. contends that it had been in violation of securities laws when it originally created XRP and offered it for public sale. Despite not demonstrating favoritism, Judge Torres did find that Ripple had violated securities statutes when marketing their token to institutional investors like sophisticated hedge funds.

Driver by the S.E.C. investigation, a spokesperson responded to the ruling by pointing out the clear infraction of regulations to at least one client, saying “We are pleased that the court found that XRP tokens were offered and sold by Ripple as investment contracts in violation of the securities laws in certain circumstances.”

The win provides evidence for other crypto companies to estimate the risk of making moves as some firms may willfully look to abstain from any activity that may cross the line with the regulator. Representative of Ripple defended the win as a pillar of moral understanding, saying “Today’s decision puts appropriate checks and balances on the S.E.C.’s campaign of regulation by enforcement”.

Case in point “The People of Ripple,” a prominent executive support group, ranged from former Ripple COOs to the French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron as an ally.

Also, a few prominent executives in the cryptoindustry have voiced their applause. Paul Grewal , chief legal officer at recordbreaker and crypto exchange Coinbase polled the decision as “Most days Ilove being a lawyer. Today is one of them.” Tyler Winklevoss, apart of Gemini Exchange commented ads “Agios Gary,” referring to cutting the bait of SEC Chair Gary Gensler who’s spear-headed the effort of wearing towns any crypto companies skating close to the rules.

From here, observers will be anticipating different rulings per the remaining lawsuits with Binance and Coinbase as these companies’ defense lawyers could poised the XRP ruling as defense paperwork.