Important Ripple v. SEC Lawsuit Update February 6

TL;DR

• The reassignment of Jorge Tenreiro and the resignation of SEC Chair Gary Gensler may signal a shift in regulatory approach, potentially leading to a faster and more favorable resolution in the Ripple lawsuit.
• Despite leadership changes, the SEC continues its legal fight against the company, recently filing an appeal and gaining support from Better Markets, which insists XRP should be classified as a security.

Good News for Ripple?

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has implemented some significant amendments to its leadership since the beginning of the year. According to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, it moved Jorge Tenreiro to its computer systems management department.

The law expert joined the Commission 11 years ago, gradually climbing the ladder to become Chief Litigation Counsel in 2024. Tenreiro signed the SEC’s notice of appeal in its case against Ripple.

The plea was filed in October last year, and it opposes Judge Torres’ ruling from 2023. Back then, the magistrate found that the company’s programmatic sales of XRP to retail clients through centralized exchanges did not breach the rules. 

Tenreiro is not someone the Ripple community thinks highly of. In December 2024, John Deaton (a prominent attorney representing thousands of XRP investors in the lawsuit against the SEC) described him and Gary Gensler as “two peas in the same SEC pod.” 

He revealed having a personal confrontation with Tenreiro, saying the latter “misled a federal judge when he claimed I should not be appointed amicus counsel on behalf of XRP holders in the Ripple case.” Eventually, Judge Torres ignored Tenreiro’s request, which Deaton labeled “the best revenge.”

Less than a month ago, the SEC saw its Chairman, Gary Gensler, vacate his post. The American was considered a huge enemy of the digital asset industry, with the securities regulator launching multiple legal battles against cryptocurrency businesses during his tenure.

Gensler was replaced by Mark Uyeda, who has an entirely different approach to the industry. Those changes might lead to a faster and perhaps favorable outcome of the Ripple v. SEC case and benefit the entire crypto sector. However, XRP proponents should have somewhat realistic hopes due to the complexity of the legal process. 

What’s New in the Lawsuit?

Despite Gensler’s resignation, the tussle witnessed other important developments since the beginning of 2025. In mid-January, the Commission filed its first opening brief as part of its appeal, insisting (once again) that Ripple’s native token should be classified as a security. A week later, the company requested a due date of April 16, 2025, for its brief. 

Although the crypto industry has predominantly backed Ripple in the lawsuit, some financial institutions have expressed support for the SEC. On January 22, the non-profit organization Better Markets classified XRP as a security.

“The XRP tokens sold by Ripple Labs, Inc. (“Ripple”) are investment contract securities regardless of whether investors acquired them directly from Ripple or indirectly on secondary trading platforms.

And they are investment contracts regardless of the purchasers’ level of sophistication. In all cases, investors were led to expect profits from the efforts of others, thus satisfying the third prong of the Howey test for investment contracts,” its brief reads. 

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