July 14, 2023: On Thursday, Ripple’s XRP token increased after a judge in the Southern District of New York said it’s “not required a security on its face.”

According to Coin Metrics, the cost of XRP was higher by 74% at about 81 cents a coin. The news gave longing to crypto investors, who breathed a sigh of relief that other altcoins may not be considered securities after all. Polygon’s matic token earned 11%. Litecoin and the token tied to Solana bounced by 8%, and Cardano’s token advanced by 7%. Bitcoin and ether grew 3% and 7%, respectively.

“The judgments today are a huge step forward for the industry,” Chris Martin, head of research at Amberdata, stated. “By judging that XRP is not a security, we’re beginning to clarify what constitutes a security and a commodity. The SEC will have to revise their tactics on several ongoing cases, and I expect this judgment will implicate several other tokens as non-securities.”

“The conclusion that institutional sales of XRP by Ripple constitute securities also has massive implications for the industry with several ICOs now likely in the spotlight,” he added. “For exchanges caught in ongoing SEC issues, it’s not clear how this judgment will affect them – they’ve only been involved in secondary sales for the most part. But as we can see with prices today, the demand is very bullish on the judgments.”

XRP surges after judge rules it’s not a security

The news marks the end of a three-year battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission; However, this is a trial court decision, and there’s a good possibility some of these items will be appealed in 202; the SEC initiated a lawsuit against Ripple for breaching U.S. securities laws by selling XRP without first registering it with the agency.

The decision was widely seen as a critical hurdle to clear in the second half of 2023 as crypto assets are still contending with a challenging macro environment and have spent several weeks under immense pressure from U.S. regulators. That scrutiny includes lawsuits brought by the SEC against Coinbase and Binance in June.

Coinbase shares were last up 18% after the ruling. Robinhood and Block, which offer crypto trading services, rose 4% and 7%, respectively. Bitcoin proxy Microstrategy gained 6%. Miners rushed double-digit rates.