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Ripple’s chief legal officer says he wouldn’t be surprised if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does appeal the final ruling in the Ripple lawsuit over XRP. He questioned the SEC’s rationality and expressed confidence that any appeal by the SEC would likely fail. Alderoty urged the SEC to focus on its core mission of protecting investors rather than pursuing baseless cases.
Ripple’s Legal Chief Criticizes SEC’s Actions
Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, addressed the possibility of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appealing the final ruling of the Ripple case over XRP during a live interview on Cryptolaw TV on Thursday.
Alderoty firmly stated, “If the SEC were a rational actor, they should just move on from this case,” underscoring the court’s conclusion that “there are no victims here, that no one suffered any loss in this case—there are no allegations of fraud.” He stressed, “Nothing in this case advances the core mission of the SEC.”
However, the Ripple chief legal officer expressed skepticism about the securities regulator’s rationality, noting, “But we all know that when it comes to crypto, the SEC has proven itself not to be rational.” He added, “The court in our case criticized the SEC for engaging in litigation gamesmanship and tactics rather than faithfully applying the law.” Despite hoping the SEC won’t appeal, Alderoty emphasized:
I wouldn’t be surprised if the SEC does appeal.
Alderoty emphasized that “XRP’s status as not a security and the secondary market trading of XRP as not security transactions — that is the law of the land,” and insisted:
That does not change even if the SEC appeals.
The Ripple legal chief urged the public to remember that “if they appeal, and again, I hope they don’t, and if they’re rational actors, they shouldn’t, but they’re not rational — statistically, the Court of Appeals… reverses lower courts less than 10% of the time.” Confident in the ruling, he asserted: “Given Judge Torres’s careful and thoughtful treatment of all of the issues in this case, we’re very confident that any appeal would withstand a challenge by the SEC.”
He concluded by advising: “This case was an overreach from the outset. They’ve got a terrible record. I would say, ‘Look, SEC, go back to your core mission of protecting investors in the market and stop focusing on cases where there was no harm to investors and there was no harm to the market.'”