XRP Wins Major Victory In SEC Case As Judge Rules XRP Is Not A Security
On February 17, 2023, U.S. District Judge Sarah Netburn ruled that XRP is not a security, in a major victory for Ripple Labs in its ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC had accused the company and its current and former chief executives of conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering by selling XRP, which Ripple’s founders created in 2012.
The SEC had accused Ripple of selling XRP as an unregistered security, but Judge Netburn found that XRP does not meet the Howey test, which is the legal definition of a security. The Howey test requires that an investment be in a common enterprise, that investors expect profits to be derived from the efforts of others, and that investors have a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the investment.
Judge Netburn found that XRP does not meet the first two prongs of the Howey test. She found that XRP is not a common enterprise because it is not a single investment, but rather a network of digital assets that can be used for a variety of purposes. She also found that investors do not expect profits to be derived from the efforts of others, but rather from the growth of the XRP network and the adoption of XRP by businesses and individuals.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently stated that although the legal proceedings would shortly come to a close, the battle for cryptocurrency was far from done.
The ruling was met with celebration by XRP holders and supporters, who believe that it is a victory for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. The price of XRP is currently has increased by 29.16% in the last 24 hours. The current market capitalization of XRP is $31,891,812,074 USD, and it has a circulating supply of 52,544,091,958 XRP coins. The maximum supply of XRP is 100,000,000,000 XRP coins.
The 24-hour trading volume of XRP is $2,534,367,257 USD. This means that XRP has been traded for a total of $2.5 billion in the last 24 hours.
XRP is currently ranked #5 on CoinMarketCap. This means that it is the 5th most valuable cryptocurrency in the world at the time of writting.
The case has experienced its fair share of dramatic intrigue over the last three years, including the publication of the “Hinman Documents” and persistent defiance from Garlinghouse against the SEC’s claims.
It remains to be seen what the long-term implications of the ruling will be. However, it is clear that the ruling is a major victory for Ripple and a setback for the SEC. Along with the XRP token surging on the news and other tangible activity, the overall mood in the cryptocurrency world seems to be one of joy.
