{"id":34376,"date":"2026-07-14T08:13:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/sec-called-xrp-a-security-ripples-david-schwartz-says\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T08:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:14:17","slug":"sec-called-xrp-a-security-ripples-david-schwartz-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/sec-called-xrp-a-security-ripples-david-schwartz-says\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC called XRP a security, Ripple\u2019s David Schwartz says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz has challenged claims that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission focused only on Ripple\u2019s sales of XRP.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_20fe7e4bba900131302162445ee6e37f\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>David Schwartz says the SEC repeatedly portrayed XRP itself as a security during Ripple litigation.<\/li>\n<li>Marc Fagel argues the case ultimately tested whether Ripple sold XRP through unregistered securities offerings.<\/li>\n<li>The 2023 ruling separated XRP tokens from transactions, rejecting programmatic sales while penalizing institutional deals.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>He said the agency\u2019s complaint and public statements repeatedly described XRP itself as a security before the court rejected parts of that broader position.<\/p>\n<p>The exchange followed comments from former SEC attorney Marc Fagel, who said the case ultimately turned on whether Ripple sold XRP through unregistered securities offerings. Schwartz argued that this summary leaves out the regulator\u2019s original language and the court\u2019s response to it.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Schwartz disputes narrower reading of SEC case<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In a July 14 <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JoelKatz\/status\/2076765852976951473?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">X exchange<\/a>, Fagel said the SEC needed to prove that Ripple sold XRP as a security to establish a Section 5 violation. He added that the agency did not need to decide every secondary-market transaction in its case against Ripple.<\/p>\n<p>Schwartz agreed that Ripple\u2019s sales mattered but rejected the claim that this was the regulator\u2019s only argument. He wrote, \u201cThe complaint itself frequently refers to XRP itself as the security.\u201d He called the narrower retelling \u201can attempt at completely rewriting history.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You are ignoring the entire thrust of their argument, their statements around it, and the pushback they got from the court. This is an attempt at completely rewriting history.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint itself frequently refers to XRP itself as the security. The SEC&#8217;s press release\u2026 <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pjF6Ku0Jbf\">pic.twitter.com\/pjF6Ku0Jbf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 David &#8216;JoelKatz&#8217; Schwartz (@JoelKatz) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JoelKatz\/status\/2076777349199393118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 13, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>SEC complaint used broad language around XRP<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The SEC\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/files\/litigation\/complaints\/2020\/comp-pr2020-338.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">December 2020 complaint<\/a> said Ripple and its executives sold more than 14.6 billion units of a \u201cdigital asset security called XRP.\u201d The regulator alleged that the sales raised more than $1.38 billion without registration or an exemption.<\/p>\n<p>The SEC\u2019s public announcement focused on Ripple\u2019s alleged unregistered offering and its executives\u2019 personal sales. Fagel later acknowledged that the agency\u2019s messaging lacked nuance and that its points appeared to change during the case. He maintained that the final legal question concerned Ripple\u2019s XRP transactions.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Court separated the token from each transaction<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Judge Analisa Torres drew a distinction between XRP and the contracts or schemes used to sell it. Her <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nysd.uscourts.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-07\/SEC%20vs%20Ripple%207-13-23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 2023 order<\/a> said XRP, as a digital token, was not \u201cin and of itself\u201d a contract, transaction or scheme that met the Howey test.<\/p>\n<p>The court then reviewed Ripple\u2019s sales by category. It found that about $728.9 million in direct institutional sales constituted unregistered investment contracts. Programmatic exchange sales did not meet the same test because buyers did not know whether Ripple or another holder sold the tokens.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ripple case ended with split ruling intact<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The SEC and Ripple dismissed their appeals in August 2025, formally ending the civil case. The final judgment kept a $125.04 million penalty and a permanent injunction tied to future unregistered institutional sales.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the XRP community marked July 13 as the third anniversary of the 2023 ruling. The decision protected Ripple\u2019s programmatic exchange sales while leaving its institutional transactions subject to securities law.<\/p>\n<p>Related reporting showed that Ripple considered closing after the SEC filed its complaint. The company continued the case and spent about $150 million on its legal defense, according to Ripple executives, as reported by crypto.news.<\/p>\n<p>Schwartz said the court\u2019s rejection of the SEC\u2019s broader position formed a major part of Ripple\u2019s victory. Fagel said the outcome still centered on whether Ripple\u2019s sales qualified as securities transactions. Their exchange reflects a lasting dispute over the agency\u2019s legal burden, public wording and the ruling that followed. That distinction still shapes how XRP\u2019s legal history is described.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz has challenged claims that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission focused only on Ripple\u2019s sales of XRP.\u00a0 Summary David Schwartz says the SEC repeatedly portrayed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34377,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34376\/revisions\/34377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}