- The SEC has launched an appeal against the final judgement in its case against Ripple, which was handed down in August.
- A spokesperson for the regulator says that the judgement conflicts with decades of precedent in securities law.
- Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse has responded to the appeal on X / Twitter, labelling Gary Gensler and the SEC irrational and out of touch.
It’s the encore nobody wants to hear. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched an appeal against the final judgement in its years-long case against Ripple.
The regulator filed its “notice of appeal” on Wednesday in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, coming hot on the heels of Judge Analisa Torres’ final judgement in the case which was handed down in August. In that final judgement, Judge Torres slapped Ripple with a sizeable US$125 million (AU$182 million) worth of fines — but that didn’t satisfy the regulator, which was seeking a penalty of around US$2 billion (AU$2.9 billion).
In July of last year the court found that Ripple had breached US securities laws in its sales of XRP to institutional investors, but not in its sales to retail investors.
If the SEC’s appeal proceeds all the way to completion it’s expected it could take until Q1 or Q2 of 2026 for this latest round in its never-ending battle with Ripple to reach a resolution.
Related: SEC Takes Loss as Court Orders Ripple to Pay US$125 Million, XRP Explodes to Almost 30% for Brief Period
What’s The Appeal About?
There’s not a lot of detail from the SEC on why it’s launching this appeal, but presumably it’s not happy about the size of the fine Ripple received — the notice of appeal itself is only a few lines long and simply says:
Please take notice that plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission hereby respectfully appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from the final judgement entered by this court August 7, 2024.
US SECIn a statement an SEC spokesperson said “we believe that the district court decision in the Ripple matter conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and securities laws and look forward to making our case to the Second Circuit.”
Ripple Isn’t Happy
In response to the SEC’s appeal, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse took to X / Twitter to share his thoughts. Predictably his thoughts were mostly angry thoughts. He suggested the SEC is irrational and out of touch:
If Gensler and the SEC were rational, they would have moved on from this case long ago. It certainly hasn’t protected investors and instead has damaged the credibility and reputation of the SEC. Somehow, they still haven’t gotten the message: they lost on everything that matters. Ripple, the crypto industry, and the rule of law have already prevailed.
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEOGarlinghouse added that regardless of the outcome of this appeal XRP’s status as a non-security is not in question, saying “let’s be clear: XRP’s status as a non-security is the law of the land today – and that does not change even in the face of this misguided – and infuriating – appeal.”
Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, also weighed in on X / Twitter, echoing Garlinghouse’s thoughts and floating the idea that Ripple may launch its own cross-appeal:
Instead of faithfully applying the law, this agency, under this Chair, continues to engage in litigation warfare against the industry. We are evaluating whether to file a cross appeal. Either way, the SEC’s lawsuit has been irrational and misguided from the start, and we’re ready to prove that yet again in the appellate court (once again taking the lead for the industry).
Stuart Alderoty, Ripple Chief Legal OfficerWhen Will It End?
Just when we thought this was over, the SEC pulls us back in — but how long might this appeal take to resolve? Well according to Attorney Fred Rispoli on X / Twitter, we could be looking at several more years of legal wrangling.
Rispoli’s timeline for this playing out predicts an end date of around March-April 2026, but if the case winds up going to the Supreme Court for resolution that could add up to two more years. That potentially puts a final ruling out to somewhere in 2028.
Related: Ripple’s Stu Alderoty “Not Surprised” If SEC Launches Appeal
If anyone’s drafting a remake of the Never Ending Story I’ve got a great idea about working a fascinating legal drama into the storyline…I wonder if Danny DeVito would be available to play Gensler…
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