Ripple Labs has launched a public airdrop of the XRP token with a $1 million prize pool in celebration of its partial win in a longstanding court case against the SEC.
On Thursday, The District Court for the Southern District of New York said the “offer and sale of XRP on digital asset exchanges did not amount to offers and sales of investment contracts.” Nevertheless, the judge determined that Ripple Labs’ sale of its XRP cryptocurrency to institutional investors constituted a breach of securities regulations.
The verdict appears to be contradictory. According to James Carlson, an adjunct securities regulation professor at New York University, securities laws were originally crafted to safeguard individual investors who may lack the ability to protect themselves. Carlson pointed out that “big institutional investors don’t need the protections of the securities laws,” and thus, this ruling effectively flips the underlying philosophy of these laws on its head, as reported by The Information.
Despite that, the ruling still represented a victory not just for Ripple as the crypto and web3 community saw it as a cause for celebration. This victory held greater significance, particularly in light of the recent securities law violations charges brought against Binance and Coinbase by the SEC.
W.W for @ripple.W for the industry.W for the builders.W for a clear rulebook.W for updating the system.Oh, and XRP is now open for trading.
— Coinbase (@coinbase) July 13, 2023
Following the court ruling, XRP’s value has soared over 60% in the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap, going from $0.47 to its current price of $0.79 as of writing this. According to CoinGecko, the trading volume of XRP on Upbit hit $2.7 billion in the past 24 hours—an increase of 41%.
Crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp are relisting XRP while Gemini tweeted that it is “exploring the listing of XRP for both spot and derivatives trading.” Coinbase stock also saw a surge of 24% on Thursday, reaching a closing price of $107.
Although Ripple’s legal triumph marks some progress for other crypto projects that face similar classification challenges from the SEC, the outcome of their ongoing legal battle remains uncertain as the industry waits for the SEC to release a clear rulebook.
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