Ripple case decision appealed by SEC causes XRP to slide 9%

On Thursday, the value of the XRP token decreased significantly, following the Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to appeal a 2023 court ruling that classified XRP as a non-security when sold to retail investors on exchanges.

According to Coin Metrics, the price of Bitcoin was more than 9% lower than its previous value at 52 cents per coin.

Last summer, Ripple, the largest XRP coin holder, achieved a partial victory in its three-year battle with the SEC. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled in favor of Ripple, marking a landmark win for the crypto industry. However, while XRP is not classified as a security when sold to retail investors on exchanges, it is considered an unregistered security offering when sold to institutional investors.

Ripple declined to comment but pointed to Wednesday evening posts by CEO Brad Garlinghouse and chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty.

Alderoty stated that the company is considering filing a cross appeal and expressed disappointment over the SEC's decision to appeal, although he expected it. The SEC, led by Chair Gary Gensler, has gained a reputation for not providing clear guidance to crypto businesses and instead enforcing regulations through actions.

Garlinghouse stated that XRP's classification as non-security remains unchanged, despite the misguided and infuriating appeal.

On Wednesday, Bitwise Asset Management filed a registration for the first XRP ETF, two days after submitting a filing for an XRP trust product in Delaware. Grayscale, which already has bitcoin and ether ETFs, introduced a similar trust product in September.

The native token of the open source XRP Ledger, which Ripple uses in its cross-border payments business, is XRP. It is the fifth-largest coin by market cap, excluding stablecoins Tether and USD Coin.

In the crypto market, Bitcoin hovered above the flat line at $60,210.29, while Ethereum fell more than 2% to $2,320.20. Crypto stocks Bitcoin and Ethereum were lower by about 1% and 2%, respectively.