the opinion of the New York judge on securities

The judge in New York has rejected the SEC’s attempts to “create controversy” in the ongoing case against Tron Foundation and Justin Sun regarding securities. 

New York: the judge rejects the SEC’s attempts in the case against Tron on securities

New developments in the ongoing lawsuit between the Securities and Exchange Commission of the USA (or SEC) against Tron Foundation and Justin Sun. 

In practice, the main theme of the lawsuit remains the sale of TRX and BTT tokens, which the SEC claims to be unregistered securities. To prove this, both the prosecution and the defense consider the Howey test. 

Specifically, in the letter filed with the court on August 12, the SEC accused the defense of trying to introduce “a new argument,” namely that the sales of TRX and BTT do not meet the “common enterprise” requirement of the Howey test. 

In the past, it seems that initially the defenders of Sun had contested only two parts of the Howey test (the investment of money and the expectation of profits), but not the element of the common enterprise.

In reality, already last April, the defendants would have filed the motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the SEC has not demonstrated jurisdiction over foreign defendants.

Now the SEC asks the judge not to take it into consideration in Sun’s motion to dismiss or to compel them to file a “sur-reply” to address the new argument. 

At the same time, Tron’s lawyers also responded to the SEC’s letter. Writing their own letter to Judge Edgardo Ramos of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

This time it is Tron Foundation and Justin Sun accusing the SEC of “attempting to create a controversy“. Specifically urging the court to deny the SEC’s request for a pre-trial conference.

New York: the federal judge sides with Tron against the SEC in the case on securities

Judge Ramos took control of the situation and on August 19 issued his decision, siding with the defenders of Tron. 

“In light of the defendants’ concession not to contest the ‘common enterprise’ element of the Howey test, the SEC’s request to strike the untimely argument or to file a supplemental reply is denied.”

In practice, for the New York judge, the Tron Foundation and Justin Sun would not have presented any new argument. 

In any case, the lawsuit against Sun and its companies has not yet been dismissed and continues to proceed. 

The motion to dismiss by Sun argues that the tokens were sold “entirely abroad” with measures taken to avoid the U.S. market. For Sun, the SEC is not a global regulatory authority. 

The price of the tenth crypto by market cap TRX

At the time of writing, the price of Tron (TRX) is $0.14, in a pump of +6% in the last 24 hours. Looking at the weekly price chart, TRX has even risen by +14% in the last seven days. 

A trend that is coloring a bit the entire crypto market green, including the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

Tron remains the tenth crypto by market cap, with a total of 12.5 billion dollars. In the last 24 hours, the trading volume of TRX has also increased by +178%. 

Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2024/08/20/new-york-the-judge-in-favor-of-tron-in-the-ongoing-lawsuit-against-the-sec-on-securities/