Ripple Labs has officially requested that the SEC’s interlocutory appeal be dismissed, asserting it sees no legal justification for the challenge.
They also argued that the appeal will only delay the process and will not affect the outcome of the case, as their lawyers contest the regulator’s interpretation of the Howey test.
Furthermore, they clarified that the only way to appeal the decision would be to wait for a final verdict. The next hearing is scheduled for Spring 2024.
This legal battle began in 2020, when the SEC charged Ripple Labs with an unregistered sale of securities in the form of XRP tokens resulting in $1.3 billion in revenue.
The company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, and its co-founder, Chris Larsen, were included in the charges as well.
Fast forward to July 2023, the Court of the Southern District of New York found that the Ripple XRP token did not entail investment contracts and, as a result, the SEC now has filed an appeal. The SEC has yet to comment on the request.
