The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a court document on Wednesday, stating that they will be filing an interlocutory appeal of a judge’s ruling on Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP. The SEC is seeking leave to appeal part of the recent decision, in order to prevent the SEC and government from needing two trials. The SEC filing stated that they are seeking to certify the Court’s holding that Defendants’ ‘Programmatic’ offers and sales to XRP buyers over crypto asset trading platforms and Ripple’s ‘Other Distributions’ in exchange for labor and services did not involve the offer or sale of securities under [the Howey test].
Last month, a federal judge ruled that Ripple’s direct sales of XRP to institutional investors violated securities law, but their programmatic sales to retail investors through exchanges did not. Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. Southern District Court had tentatively scheduled a trial on other issues for the second quarter of 2024.
The SEC noted that Ripple will have to respond by Aug. 16, 2023, and proposed filing an opening brief laying out the appeal on Aug. 18. Ripple would have two weeks to respond, and the SEC would have another week to reply to Ripple if the judge signs off on the filing. The SEC had previously hinted that they might appeal the ruling in a separate case, when attorneys for the regulator urged Judge Jed Rakoff of the same court to ignore the ruling as he mulled over Terraform Labs’ motion to dismiss its own SEC lawsuit.
The SEC filing stated that they are seeking to certify the Court’s holding that Defendants’ ‘Programmatic’ offers and sales to XRP buyers over crypto asset trading platforms and Ripple’s ‘Other Distributions’ in exchange for labor and services did not involve the offer or sale of securities under [the Howey test].