Judge rules XRP is not a security in SEC’s case against Ripple

Ripple Labs scored a victory in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York on July 13 as Judge Analisa Torres ruled partially in favor of the company in a case brought forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission dating back to 2020.

According to documents filed on July 13, Judge Torres has granted summary judgment in favor of Ripple Labs, ruling that the XRP (XRP) token is not a security, but only in regards to programmatic sales on digital asset exchanges.

However, the SEC also managed to notch a victory of its own, as the federal judge has ruled that XRP is a security when sold to institutional investors, as it met the conditions set in the Howey Test. 

The SEC lawsuit sought to compel Ripple to stop offering its XRP token under the premise that XRP was a security and, thus, required additional regulation. 

Per court documents viewed by Cointelegraph:

“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to the Programmatic Sales, the Other Distributions, and Larsen’s and Garlinghouse’s sales, and DENIED as to the Institutional Sales.”

Within a matter of minutes after the news broke, the price of XRP has catapulted from $0.45 to $0.61. This puts the token up over 25% as of the time of this article’s publishing. 

The case against Ripple has been ongoing since December 2020 when the SEC sued Ripple and its two chief executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, over allegations the company was offering an unregistered security.

Over the past three years, the case has had its fair share of dramatic intrigue, including the release of the “Hinman Documents” and ongoing defiance in the face of the SEC’s accusations from Garlinghouse. 

Along with the palpable movement demonstrated by the XRP token pumping on the news, the overall sentiment across the crypto community appears to be one of jubilation. 

Update (July 13, 10:30pm UTC): This article has been updated to include information about the partial victory for the SEC from the ruling.