SEC asks court to certify for interlocutory appeal in Ripple Labs case

The SEC on Friday filed a motion with the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, asking it to certify for interlocutory appeal in its ongoing dispute with Ripple Labs. The latest request came just a day after the judge in the case said the regulator could proceed to file for the appeal. 

Ripple has until Sept. 1 to file its response to the latest SEC motion, according to the filing. The SEC had already said earlier this month that it planned to appeal the partial defeat in July that sent the XRP token surging 

In an accompanying filing, SEC lawyers argued that how the court handles the Ripple case could have a "substantial impact" on other pending litigation like those between the regulatory agency and top crypto trading platforms Binance and Coinbase.

The regulatory agency also said that an immediate appeal is warranted "because they involve controlling questions of law as to which there are substantial grounds for difference of opinion, and obtaining an appellate ruling on these issues now may materially advance the ultimate termination of this litigation."

Ripple has opposed the SEC's move for appeal 

Earlier this week, Ripple opposed the SEC's planned move, asserting that there is "no extraordinary circumstance here that would justify departing from the rule requiring all issues as to all parties to be resolved before an appeal."

Ripple and the SEC's spat dates back to 2020, when the agency accused the digital payment network of raising $1.3 billion through sales of XRP.

Judge Analisa Torres ruled last month that some of Ripple’s sales, called programmatic, of XRP did not violate securities laws because of a blind bid process in place for them. She also ruled that other direct sales of the token to institutional investors were securities, leaving a partial win for the SEC.

The SEC wants to appeal the part of the decision about the programmatic sales as well as “other distributions” that included offers and sales of XRP in exchange for goods and services.