Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Ripple’s XRP token was an investment contract when the company sold it to institutional investors, a judge ruled today. The case, brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, is one of the biggest in determining whether tokens are securities. Though this is an intermediate ruling in a larger case, it’s still significant.
In the ruling, Judge Analisa Torres found that Ripple’s $728.9 million sales of XRP to institutional investors — hedge funds, etc. — were unregistered securities offerings. However, the programmatic sales and those by Ripple’s CEOs weren’t. The case will go to a jury trial to decide other claims.
There are long-standing questions about whether cryptocurrencies are actually securities
In the suit, the SEC alleged…