• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler recently voiced his dissatisfaction with a court ruling related to the XRP token.
• Judge Analisa Torres declared that sales of XRP tokens on retail exchanges did not constitute securities offerings, while Ripple’s sales of the XRP token to institutional investors were unregistered securities offerings.
• SEC Chair Gensler said that he is “disappointed” by the ruling and that his agency is reviewing the opinion in order to bring non-compliant firms into compliance.
SEC Chair’s Dissatisfaction with XRP Ruling
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler recently voiced his dissatisfaction with a court ruling related to the XRP token, as reported by Bloomberg on July 17 . Gensler said that he is “disappointed” by Judge Analisa Torres’ declaration that sales of XRP tokens on retail exchanges did not constitute securities offerings.
Judge’s Ruling Regarding Retail and Institutional Sales
Judge Torres ruled on July 13 that programmatic sales and free giveaways of XRP were not securities. Conversely, Gensler said that he is content with the judge’s ruling regarding Ripple’s sales of the XRP token to institutional investors. Judge Torres ruled that, unlike retail sales, Ripple’s institutional sales were unregistered securities offerings which were offered directly via written contracts.
SEC Reviewing Opinion for Compliance
Gensler also suggested that his agency is reviewing the opinion in order to bring non-compliant firms into compliance with SEC regulations and standards for offering crypto-assets as security investments in the U.S..
Ripple’s Legal Proceedings Continue
This recent development comes just days after it was revealed in a court document from May 18th that Ripple Labs had allegedly misled its investors regarding how different branches of its business generated revenue from sale or use of XRP tokens since 2012 . This ongoing legal battle continues as Ripple seeks exoneration from these charges while attempting to prove it acted responsibly when selling its native asset and using proceeds for operations expenses like marketing campaigns or employee salaries .
Conclusion
It remains unclear how this latest update will affect Ripple Labs‘ current legal proceedings against the SEC, but it does throw another wrinkle into an already complex case where both sides continue to argue their points before a federal judge in New York City .