Breaking: Judge Torres Approves SEC’s Request to File Interlocutory Appeal in XRP Ruling

The XRP vs SEC lawsuit has taken an interesting turn as Judge Analisa Torres has granted the request from the market regulator to file an interlocutory Appeal over the July 13 ruling that declares XRP sales on secondary exchanges are not investment contracts.

XRP vs SEC Lawsuit: New Timelines

As contained in the notice published by Judge Torres, she said she has reviewed the motion for interlocutory Appeal from the US SEC as filed on August 9 as well as the counter response opposing the move as filed by blockchain payments firm, Ripple Labs Inc on August 16.

Having considered the merits of the arguments from both parties, Judge Torres said the SEC’s request is granted and gave the markets regulator until August 18 to file its motion to oppose. The Judge was magnanimous in that she gave Ripple Labs up to September 1 to file its opposition papers. The SEC will have one more grace to file its response by September 8 should there be any.

With instruction for all parties to adhere strictly to the defined timelines, industry stakeholders now have a whole new subject to base their speculations on. Judge Analisa Torres, despite her perceived pro-crypto verdict, has notably been fair to all sides. 

The currently much-disputed verdict has an element that favored the US SEC even though the regulator’s proponents choose not to dwell much on this. According to the Judge, the offering of XRP tokens from Ripple Labs directly to institutional investors should be considered an investment contract, however, those tokens acquired on secondary marketplaces are not.

It remains unclear which angle the SEC wants to take for its Appeal as Ripple Labs had claimed in its opposing motion that the market regulator has no basis to question the ruling based on the tenets of law.

Is this a win for the SEC?

Pro-crypto lawyers have argued that this granted interlocutory appeal request is not a win for the SEC as Judge Torres might have chosen this approach in order to further expatiate her position on the law that prompted her to give the ruling at the time.

As has been said by legal experts, the ruling that XRP trading on exchanges is not security remains the law, giving the likes of Coinbase that have relisted the coin the clear for the time being.