Fintech company Ripple has filed a preliminary statement for the review of court decisions in its civil appeal against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP @Ripple has filed the Civil Appeal Pre-Argument Statement (Form C). The relevant pages are below. pic.twitter.com/usm3fCjG20
— James K. Filan 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@FilanLaw) October 25, 2024

This move is in response to the SEC’s similar filing under the Form C procedure. The conflict began in December 2020 when the SEC accused Ripple of selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP tokens worth $1.3 billion. Among the defendants were CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen.

In July 2023, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that programmatic sales of XRP do not constitute investment contracts. However, the court held that sales to large institutional clients violated U.S. securities laws.

The SEC attempted an interim appeal, but the court dismissed it, citing a lack of evidence. The commission also withdrew its lawsuit against Garlinghouse and Larsen, reaching a settlement.

In August 2024, Ripple was fined $125 million, although the SEC initially sought $2 billion. In October, the regulator again appealed the court’s decision, filing its version of Form C, requesting a de novo review of the case, which implies a complete reevaluation of all aspects.

In response, Ripple submitted its own version of Form C, proposing a similar approach to reviewing the disputed issues, including the application of the Howey test, which helps determine whether assets are investment contracts. The company likely hopes for the reversal of sanctions related to institutional sales of XRP.

Today, Ripple filed a Form C – listing the issues we plan to raise on our cross appeal. A few things to keep in mind as we move forward:

The case is not about whether XRP, in and of itself, is a security. XRP is uniquely situated as having clarity (alongside BTC) in not being… https://t.co/AmFocAnbPx
— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) October 25, 2024

“Today, Ripple filed Form C with a list of questions for the counter-appeal,” confirmed the company’s General Counsel, Stuart Alderoty. He noted that the SEC no longer disputes XRP’s status as a non-security, which creates challenges for new arguments from the regulator.

It is worth noting that Garlinghouse, speaking at the DC Fintech Week 2024 conference, expressed confidence that the crypto industry would undergo a reboot after the upcoming U.S. elections.