Stuart Alderoty, the legal chief at Ripple, remains unfazed by concerns surrounding a potential appeal by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the recent historic XRP ruling. Alderoty assures that the company is fully prepared for any appeal initiated by the SEC and believes such a move could further solidify its triumph over the regulatory watchdog.
Recently, the SEC hinted at the possibility of appealing the Ripple ruling, as indicated in a filing during an ongoing legal dispute with Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon.
Speaking on the TechCrunch podcast, Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, reaffirmed that XRP does not qualify as an investment contract. He asserted that the Ripple legal team would not back down in the face of an SEC appeal initiated in court. Alderoty expressed confidence in the judge’s ruling, stating that it faithfully applied the law and predicted that a court of appeals would uphold and possibly strengthen the decision even further.
On July 13, Federal district judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP, the token powering Ripple’s payments network, is “not necessarily a security on its face,” except when offered to hedge funds and institutional buyers. This ruling was a significant victory for Ripple and the entire crypto industry.
Despite the SEC expressing dissatisfaction with the verdict and indicating its intention to challenge it, Alderoty believes that the SEC’s stance on classifying crypto assets as securities will ultimately face setbacks in other ongoing cases.
“Our case and the decision rendered by our judge [Torres] will comfort other judges that the SEC is just misguided.”
While the court victory cleared a long-standing regulatory cloud over Ripple, Alderoty points out that uncertainties persist regarding the legal status of cryptocurrencies in the United States. He criticized the SEC’s approach of regulating crypto through enforcement, which has stifled innovation and progress in the American crypto space.
Alderoty emphasized the need for a rational, comprehensive, and understandable regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in the U.S., as the country risks falling behind the rest of the world due to the SEC’s failure to faithfully apply the law.
As of the time of writing, XRP is trading above $0.70, recording a 0.4% increase in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko. The favorable price movement reflects the market’s confidence in Ripple’s legal victory and its potential implications for the broader crypto market.
Ripple’s legal chief remains optimistic about the company’s prospects in the face of an SEC appeal. The ruling on XRP sets an essential precedent for classifying crypto assets and could influence future regulatory decisions, impacting the overall growth and development of the cryptocurrency industry.
