Another chapter is unfolding in the drawn-out legal conflict between Ripple and the SEC. The regulator, in its latest appeal, insists that the district court misjudged crucial elements of the case. According to the SEC, XRP token offers and sales should have been met the Howey Test’s expectation-of-profits requirement. 

Additionally, it claims that the district court incorrectly concluded that noncash transactions involving XRP did not constitute an investment of money under the same test. The appeal seeks to overturn the court’s summary judgment and final ruling on Ripple’s sales to retail buyers.

For Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, this move appears to be more of the same. The SEC’s arguments, he believes, are repetitive and unpersuasive, with diminishing relevance as the regulatory landscape shifts. 

"Sacked in the morning"

The clock is ticking for SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who is set to step down imminently — a departure eagerly anticipated by many in the cryptocurrency industry. Gensler’s tenure has been defined by a tough, enforcement-heavy approach to digital asset regulation. That era, Ripple and others hope, is nearing its end.

With a change in leadership arriving on Jan. 20, optimism is brewing. Ripple, like many, awaits the potential of this fresh chapter in regulation, even as the current case remains unresolved.

The expectation is not for leniency but for a pivot to a more constructive, pro-innovation regulatory environment. Ripple’s leadership envisions a reset where the focus shifts from litigation to collaboration, from enforcement to growth.

Alderoty says cases that are not about fraud should be left behind as we move toward a new approach. He says we need to move quickly to sort out the arguments that are still going on, so the industry can move forward with clearer, more predictable rules.