Coinbase, Kraken and Binance announced the release of XRP

A Southern District of New York court sided with Ripple Labs in a proceeding involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The judge considered that program sales and other XRP coin distribution options are not an offer and implementation of investment contracts. Amid this news, the token’s exchange rate rose sharply to $0.94.

The proceedings between the SEC and Ripple began back in 2020. The regulator insisted that the company was selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP for seven years, with which the court did not agree. However, the ruling states that the purchase of tokens worth more than $700 million by large investors still violates the law.

This means that the top managers of Ripple will face a jury trial. At the end of the process, whether the company’s executives are responsible for the illegal sale of XRP to institutional investors will be decided.

Meanwhile, the head of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, is quite positive about the future of cryptocurrency innovation in the United States.

“In December 2020, we said we are on the right side of the law and will remain on the right side of history,” he wrote.

And Ripple Labs general counsel Stuart Alderoti commented on the court’s verdict that XRP is not considered a security in the secondary market. According to him, the trial’s outcome will help reduce regulatory pressure on the industry.

“We won a huge victory regarding the law — XRP is not a security. Coin sales on exchanges, sales of crypto assets by executives, and XRP giveaways to developers, charities or employees are not securities. The only thing the court has recognized as an investment contract is direct sales of XRP to institutional clients in the past. Further litigation will only be conducted on those sales,” Alderoti explained.

Amid the positive news for the entire crypto industry, leading platforms such as Coinbase, Kraken and Binance announced their intention to resume XRP trading for US users.