The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to appeal from a court ruling last month that the sale of the XRP digital token on public exchanges complied with federal securities laws, in a case involving the cryptocurrency company Ripple Labs.
In a letter filed on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, the SEC also asked U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres to put the case on hold during the appeal, saying multiple pending cases may be affected by how it is resolved.
Ripple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The SEC has for years claimed that digital assets such as cryptocurrency are securities, as are stocks and bonds, and that it has power to regulate them.
In a July 13 decision, Torres said Ripple did not break the law when the XRP token was sold on public exchanges, though it did by selling XRP to institutional investors.
But just 18 days later, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who sits on the same court, came to an opposite conclusion by finding that Terra USD, a token offered by Terraform Labs, qualified as a security when sold on public exchanges.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker
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