There have been many legendary battles in recent years, from the Kamala vs. Trump election battle to Mike Tyson’s fight with Jake Paul, but when it comes to the crypto world, the SEC vs. Ripple case takes the cake. The legal battle between the two has sprawled over the years, with neither side recording a definitive victory. However, while this battle has been out of the news for a while, there has been a new development. 

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly filed another argument in the developing case of SEC vs Ripple. On January 15, the Commission filed a complaint with the Second Circuit Appeals Court that the judgment passed by a New York District Court was wrong. 

The judgment in question was delivered by Judge Analisa Torres in 2023, ruling that XRP sold to retail investors was not classifiable as an unregistered securities offering. 

Gary Gensler’s SEC is now asking that the appeal court overturn Judge Analisa Torres’ judgment, re-classify the XRP sales to retail investors as unregistered securities, and hand Ripple an updated judgment if the previous one is eventually overturned. 

In her initial ruling, Judge Torres made a key distinction: XRP counted as a security when sold to institutions but not to retail investors through exchanges since these buyers couldn't identify who was selling to them.

Following Judge Torres’ judgment, the SEC’s appeal now argues that XRP buyers, including retail investors, would undoubtedly be expecting a profit due to what it claimed was Ripple’s promotional efforts for the XRP token.

Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse went on X to air his discontent and disappointment with The SEC’s latest move. In a January 16 post, Garlinghouse stated that the SEC was “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Even Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderorty took to X for his reaction, stating that “As expected, the SEC’s appeal brief is a rehash of already failed arguments — and likely to be abandoned by the next administration,”

Despite the SEC’s best efforts to claim a victory over Ripple Labs, XRP’s performance remains undisturbed as it maintains its positive trajectory. As of this writing, the token is trading at $3.10, and its value has risen by more than 9% in the past 24 hours. 

Wednesday’s intraday trading session was good for XRP, as that was the first time the token surged above the $3 mark since 2018. Many thought the SEC’s troubles with XRP might hurt the altcoin’s price performance; however, the reverse has proven to be the case because market participants are as bullish as ever on the asset. 

As speculations about the seemingly never-ending case continue, Reuters has reported that the SEC, under Donald Trump’s administration, could eventually freeze the commission’s litigation on cases that do not include fraud allegations. This decision could lead the new administration to drop cases dealing with securities law violations, possibly including the Ripple lawsuit.

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