Following Thursday’s bombshell split decision by judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in SEC v. Ripple Labs et al., the answer appears to be that XRP is both an unlawfully sold investment contract when sold to VCs or institutional buyers, but a perfectly lawful, “something else” when sold anonymously via cryptocurrency exchanges, or distributed to employees or by insiders.
The only thing this ruling guarantees for cryptocurrency issuers, then, is continued uncertainty in the cryptocurrency markets – uncertainty which Congress, and only Congress, can step in to correct.
Source: Ripple Labs Ruling Throws U.S. Crypto-Token Regulation into Disarray – Preston J Byrne
