Why the SEC hasn't surrendered? Ripple case still awaits final judgment, SEC can still appeal next year

The SEC's withdrawal of the lawsuit against Ripple caused XRP to surge, even being seen as the reason for Bitcoin hitting $30,000. However, the court has ruled that "Ripple selling coins to institutional investors" constitutes securities sales, and a final decision is still pending. Additionally, the claim that the SEC withdrew the lawsuit in order to immediately appeal is also incorrect.

SEC withdraws lawsuit, XRP surges nearly 10%, Ripple CEO: We have secured three consecutive wins

Ripple Case Still Awaits Final Ruling

Although the court ruled on July 13th that Ripple's "programmatic sales" of coins on exchanges did not meet the Howey Test criteria for determining investment contracts.

However, the institutional sales conducted by Ripple Labs did indeed make XRP qualify as a security, indicating that some of the accusations in the Ripple case still await a final ruling by the court.

FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett also cited anonymous sources familiar with the SEC, stating that besides dropping charges against the two top executives at Ripple, other accusations in the Ripple case, including investment contracts and token sales distribution, are still pending, suggesting that it may be premature to claim that Gary Gensler has surrendered without a fight.

🚨NEW: Sources close to the @SECGov tell me that while the charges against @bgarlinghouse and @chrislarsensf have been dropped, all other parts of the case, including classification of all offers and sales of $XRP as an investment scheme, remain on the table.

Seems @GaryGensler…

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) October 20, 2023

SEC Cannot Appeal Immediately

Ran Neuner, former host of CNBC Crypto Trader, faced a significant amount of backlash for his comments on the Ripple case, with over 800 replies to his tweet.

His tweet stated:

Why is the crypto community celebrating the SEC's withdrawal of the lawsuit? Previously, they had to wait for the case to conclude, but now they can appeal immediately, smarter.

However, Eleanor Terrett quickly countered:

The SEC can only appeal after the final judgment, which could take several months, meaning the SEC's earliest chance to appeal would be next year.

They cannot appeal immediately. They will need to wait until there’s a final judgment which can’t happen until the penalty phase is over. This could take months which means the SEC will not get to appeal until next year. https://t.co/moSIJy3cLh

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) October 20, 2023

CoinDesk also pointed out that Ripple and the SEC still have to battle over the illegal sale of $700 million worth of XRP, and while the burden on the Ripple team has been reduced significantly, the assumption that the SEC has somehow surrendered is definitely incorrect.