Jason Gottlieb Quoted in Vixio and Reuters on Ripple’s Cryptocurrency Victory Over SEC

Partner and Chair of the Digital Assets Practice Jason Gottlieb was quoted in a Vixio article entitled, “Crypto Industry Triumphant After Ripple’s Victory Over SEC.” The article discussed that while there is reason for Ripple – and the larger crypto industry – to celebrate its recent win, legal observers caution that regulatory clarity is still a long way off.

Last week, US District Court Judge Analisa Torres ruled that when Ripple sold XRP “programmatically” to the public via crypto exchanges, those sales did not meet the criteria of a securities offering or sale.

Jason said, “The judgment is ‘very, very good’ for crypto, but still leaves the industry a long way from regulatory clarity.” He pointed out that the court “punted” as to the question of whether secondary market sales (i.e., sales from one member of the public to another following a sale from Ripple to the public) would constitute as securities sales. In Jason’s view, the implication of the ruling is that the answer would be no.

“While lots of thorny questions remain, the initial jubilation over the decision is justified,” Jason commented. “Its logic both opens up clearer pathways to token distribution and secondary market trading that the SEC was systematically trying to shut down.”

Still, Jason warned that, “this particular judgment is just one decision from one district court judge, and is not a binding precedent.” He hopes that other courts will adopt the decision.

Jason was also quoted in a July 14 Reuters article entitled, “'Ripple' effect from ruling in SEC crypto case could be game-changer for class action defendants.” The article discussed Judge Torres’s ruling that XRP purchasers aren’t interchangeable – and that securities laws don’t protect all of them.

Jason explained, “It just got much harder for plaintiffs to bring weak cases. They cannot simply allege, 'I bought a token and therefore I bought an unregistered security,' which was the path the SEC was headed down, and a path that the private plaintiffs’ bar was following.”

Read the full Vixio article here.

Read the full Reuters article here.