A federal judge in New York disagreed with another judge who determined earlier this month that a Ripple Labs coin was not a security when sold on secondary markets, adding to the confusion surrounding cryptocurrency law.
On Monday, US District Judge Jed Rakoff granted the Securities and Exchange Commission permission to proceed with its action against Terraform Labs Pte and its creator, Do Kwon.
Rakoff stated that he disagreed with the distinction made in the Ripple case between public and institutional sales.
The July 13 Ripple decision was largely heralded as a triumph for the crypto sector, and most coins skyrocketed in the aftermath.
Rakoff’s decision does not overturn the Ripple decision, but it does demonstrate that the question of when a digital asset becomes a digital asset remains open.
