Judge Torres Ruling Sets Ripple Test For Crypto

Ripple Vs SEC: The long-running lawsuit between crypto leader Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nears an end as the court ordered Ripple Labs to pay a $125 million civil penalty. The penalty imposed being significantly less than the $2 billion sought by the government agency could turn the tables in favor of crypto companies in legal battles due to “Ripple Test” for crypto industry.

Ripple Vs SEC Key Precedent for Other Crypto Lawsuit

In a report on August 14, Bloomberg asserted that the outcome of the Ripple case could help shape the future of other crypto cases and legal disputes. The Binance, Coinbase, and Consensys lawsuits now have a strong precedent to resolve conflicts between parties and decisions in part of the case such as crypto programmatic and secondary sales.

One of the most-watched legal cases in crypto comes to an end after Judge Torres issued a partial win for both parties. Judge Torres ordered Ripple Labs to pay a $125 million civil penalty instead of 876,308,712. The judge was also in favor of the defendant as she turned down $876,308,712 in disgorgement and $198,150,940 in prejudgment interest sought by the SEC in the Ripple vs SEC case.

However, the judge ruled in favor of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as Ripple Labs is prevented from selling unregistered securities under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933. However, the company can still XRP securities sales with a registration statement.

Ripple CLO Stuart Alderoty in 2020 predicted that the SEC lawsuit against the company would bring clarity to the crypto industry. Alderoty even quoted — “Goodbye Howey test, hello Ripple test.”

The court rejected the SEC’s allegation that XRP was a security under the Howey test. Ripple contended that XRP sales didn’t meet the Howey test because it happened in the secondary market and there was no pooling of profits. This provided a doctrine and strong precedent for the crypto space.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Elliot Stein said Torres’ latest Ripple vs SEC decision is good for Coinbase Global in its battle against the agency and could boost its odds of a favorable decision in that case.

Appeals In the XRP Lawsuit

The crypto community now awaits whether the SEC or Ripple appeal against the recent decision on remedies or any earlier rulings by the court. Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse and CLO Stuart Alderoty expressed satisfaction with the ruling and indicated they intend not to appeal Judge Torres’ decision.

Lawyers believe the SEC can appeal last year’s summary judgment and remedies decision. The agency has 60 days to appeal in the Ripple Vs SEC case. It can also happen after Ripple pays civil penalties to the regulator in 30 days.

XRP price jumped more than 1% in the past 24 hours and 15% in a week, with the price currently trading at $0.58. The 24-hour low and high are $0.5668 and $0.5831, respectively. An XRP price prediction signals a bull flag pattern breakout as Ripple considers an IPO and spot XRP ETF approval. The breakout will see a 22% uptrend to $0.69.

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Varinder Singh

Varinder has 10 years of experience in the Fintech sector, with over 5 years dedicated to blockchain, crypto, and Web3 developments. Being a technology enthusiast and analytical thinker, he has shared his knowledge of disruptive technologies in over 5000+ news, articles, and papers. With CoinGape Media, Varinder believes in the huge potential of these innovative future technologies. He is currently covering all the latest updates and developments in the crypto industry.

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