In a significant development for the cryptocurrency industry, Ripple’s XRP has been conspicuously absent from the latest list of crypto assets deemed as securities by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as reported by CoinGecko. This comes just a few weeks after the celebrated summary judgment that largely exonerated Ripple from most of the security charges levied against it by the SEC, following a prolonged legal battle.
Ripple’s XRP Is Excluded from New SEC Security Assets List
The new list of SEC-designated security assets was published on CoinGecko, a renowned crypto price tracking site, sparking excitement among XRP advocates and the cryptocurrency community at large. Notably, the managing partner of Deaton Law Firm and prominent XRP advocate, John Deaton, took to Twitter to express his elation at the prospect of XRP’s potential removal from the SEC’s “red list.” Deaton’s tweet, “Today: Not on the list: XRP,” encapsulated the sentiment shared by many who have closely followed the case.
How it began:
“From at least 2013 through the present, Defendants sold over 14.6 billion units of a digital asset security called "XRP”
Today:
Not on the list: XRP. https://t.co/NNVBkpdH0g pic.twitter.com/0PLRMDB9V4
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) August 9, 2023
David Schwartz, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Ripple, added a touch of humour to the discourse, jokingly suggesting a list of absurd items that the SEC had previously considered regulating. This playful tweet from Schwartz, which mentioned items such as warehouse receipts for whisky casks, live beavers, and orange groves, underscored the evolving nature of cryptocurrency regulation and the challenges faced by regulatory bodies in adapting to this dynamic industry.
The reason for the absence of XRP in the new SEC Assets list revealed
The absence of XRP from the new list is particularly significant given that the SEC has maintained its intention to appeal Judge Analisa Torres’s ruling that classified XRP as a digital currency rather than a security. In a second attempt to uphold its stance, the SEC filed a letter with the Southern District of New York, seeking permission for an interlocutory appeal of the summary judgment. The SEC argued that the judgment has begun to negatively impact its other ongoing security cases, a reason that the XRP community vehemently opposes, considering it an unsubstantiated rationale for the appeal.
Despite the ongoing legal battle and the uncertainty surrounding XRP’s regulatory status, its market price appears to be relatively stable. At the time of reporting, XRP was trading between a range of $0.625353 and $0.639057 in the past 24 hours, according to data sourced from CoinGecko. This stability underscores the resilience of the XRP community and its ability to navigate challenges while keeping a watchful eye on the legal proceedings.
It’s worth noting that the new list published by CoinGecko still encompasses 48 crypto projects that the SEC identifies as potential security assets, subject to regulatory scrutiny. Some of the notable projects mentioned include Binance Coin (BNB), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Algorand (ALGO), Tron (TRX), The Sandbox (SAND), Toncoin (TON), Binance USD (BUSD), and Decentraland (MANA), among others.
As the cryptocurrency industry continues to evolve and regulators grapple with the complexities of this nascent technology, the case of Ripple’s XRP stands as a focal point, illustrating the intersection of legal interpretation, innovation, and community support. The omission of XRP from the SEC’s recent security assets list is a milestone that has ignited discussions about the future trajectory of XRP and its potential impact on the broader regulatory landscape.