SEC 诉 Ripple 案：加密货币监管的风向标

周三，法官 Analisa Torres 结束了美国证券交易委员会加密货币案件的第一章，并处以 1.25 亿美元的罚款

A New York federal judge has brought the first chapter of a major Securities and Exchange Commission crypto case to a close, imposing a $125 million penalty on Ripple and forbidding the digital assets firm from violating securities law in the future.

纽约联邦法官结束了美国证券交易委员会加密货币重大案件的第一章，对 Ripple 处以 1.25 亿美元的罚款，并禁止这家数字资产公司未来违反证券法。

The penalty fell far short of the $2 billion the SEC had sought, causing XRP—the token closely tied to Ripple—to soar more than 20%.

处罚金额远低于 SEC 要求的 20 亿美元，导致 XRP（与 Ripple 密切相关的代币）飙升超过 20%。

The SEC v. Ripple case, which began in late 2020, has been viewed as a bellwether for how courts will rule on a broader anti-crypto enforcement campaign by the agency—a campaign the industry claims exceeds the SEC’s legal authority.

SEC 诉 Ripple 案于 2020 年底开始，被视为法院将如何对该机构更广泛的反加密执法行动做出裁决的风向标——业界声称该行动超出了 SEC 的法律权威。

In response to Wednesday's ruling, Ripple executives and other crypto watchers framed the decision as a victory for crypto firms. In the bigger picture, though, an almost certain SEC appeal—alongside the vague language of the ruling—means that long-awaited regulatory clarity is still a distant dream.

作为对周三裁决的回应，Ripple 高管和其他加密货币观察人士将这一决定视为加密货币公司的胜利。然而，从更大的角度来看，美国证券交易委员会几乎肯定会上诉，再加上裁决的模糊语言，意味着期待已久的监管明确性仍然是一个遥远的梦想。

"The immediate decision by Judge Torres on balance is very positive for Ripple," said Joe Castelluccio, a partner at Mayer Brown and the co-leader of the law firm's fintech and blockchain practice groups, adding that the decision should still "give the industry and the market a bit of pause."

Mayer Brown 合伙人、该律师事务所金融科技和区块链业务团队联席负责人 Joe Castelluccio 表示：“总的来说，托雷斯法官立即做出的决定对 Ripple 来说非常积极。”他补充说，该决定仍应“给行业带来好处”。市场有点停顿。”

Since its founding in 2012, Ripple has carved out a prominent position in the crypto sector through its promise of building a global payments network and its proprietary token, XRP, which has gained a fiercely loyal follower base and an enviable $35 billion market cap.

自 2012 年成立以来，Ripple 通过承诺建立全球支付网络及其专有代币 XRP，在加密货币领域占据了显着地位，XRP 赢得了极其忠实的追随者基础和令人羡慕的 350 亿美元市值。

Along with the financial success, Ripple has faced a series of legal challenges, including the 2020 lawsuit filed by the SEC under then-chair Jay Clayton.

除了财务上的成功外，Ripple 还面临着一系列法律挑战，包括 2020 年由时任主席杰伊·克莱顿 (Jay Clayton) 领导的 SEC 提起的诉讼。

Clayton's successor Gary Gensler inherited the case, which quickly became the agency's flagship litigation as it pursued a bruising enforcement campaign against the volatile industry. The SEC argued that the company had violated the law by raising over $1.3 billion through an unregistered digital asset securities offering.

克莱顿的继任者加里·詹斯勒（Gary Gensler）继承了此案，该案件很快成为该机构的旗舰诉讼，因为该机构对动荡的行业采取了严厉的执法行动。 SEC 认为，该公司通过未经注册的数字资产证券发行筹集了超过 13 亿美元的资金，违反了法律。

After a high-profile court battle, which included the unveiling of internal SEC emails detailing the inner workings of its approach to crypto, Torres issued a surprising decision in July 2023. She found that Ripple's sales of XRP directly to institutional investors such as hedge funds violated securities laws, but secondary sales of the token on platforms such as exchanges did not. Ripple—and most of the industry—hailed the ruling as a victory, even as the SEC filed to immediately appeal the decision pending a final judgment.

经过一场备受瞩目的法庭诉讼，其中包括披露 SEC 内部电子邮件，详细说明其加密货币方法的内部运作方式，托雷斯于 2023 年 7 月做出了一项令人惊讶的决定。她发现 Ripple 直接向对冲基金等机构投资者出售 XRP违反了证券法，但在交易所等平台上进行的代币二次销售却没有违反。尽管 SEC 立即对该决定提出上诉，等待最终判决，但 Ripple 以及大多数行业人士仍称赞这一裁决是一次胜利。

In the time between Torres's initial decision and her ruling on Wednesday about damages, several other federal judges—including two in Torres's own district court—have weighed in with crypto-related rulings of their own. These decisions have come to separate and sometimes contradictory conclusions than what Torres found—meaning the legal status of digital token sales has become a ripe legal question for appeals courts, and potentially for the Supreme Court.

在托雷斯做出初步决定和周三就损害赔偿做出裁决之间，其他几位联邦法官（包括托雷斯所在地区法院的两名法官）也参与了自己与加密货币相关的裁决。这些判决得出的结论与托雷斯的结论不同，有时甚至是相互矛盾的，这意味着数字代币销售的法律地位已成为上诉法院乃至最高法院的一个成熟的法律问题。

A penalty and an injunction

处罚和禁令

While it is common for government attorneys to ask for greater penalties than are ultimately enforced, Torres's final figure of $125 million is much closer to Ripple's ask than what the SEC requested.

虽然政府律师要求比最终执行的处罚更重的处罚是很常见的，但托雷斯 1.25 亿美元的最终数字比 SEC 的要求更接近 Ripple 的要求。

"Anyone is going to spin things their own way, but it's hard not to see it as a win for Ripple," said a former SEC attorney now working in crypto law, who spoke with Fortune on the condition of anonymity because of their continued work with the agency. They pointed specifically to the fact that the judge denied the SEC's request for disgorgements from Ripple, meaning the company would not have to pay back any profits it had earned from illegal behavior.

一名目前从事加密货币法工作的前 SEC 律师表示：“任何人都会按照自己的方式行事，但这很难不被视为 Ripple 的胜利。”由于继续工作，他在接受《财富》杂志采访时要求匿名。与代理机构。他们特别指出，法官拒绝了 SEC 要求 Ripple 返还非法所得的请求，这意味着该公司无需偿还从非法行为中赚取的任何利润。

Despite the financial win, Torres also imposed an injunction against Ripple, ordering the company to refrain from further violations of securities laws. In her decision, she points to Ripple's "willingness to push the boundaries" of the law after the SEC filed its initial lawsuit, arguing that there is a likelihood the company "will eventually (if it has not already) cross the line."

尽管取得了财务上的胜利，托雷斯还对 Ripple 发出了禁令，命令该公司不要进一步违反证券法。在她的决定中，她指出，在美国证券交易委员会提起初步诉讼后，Ripple“愿意突破法律的界限”，并认为该公司“最终（如果还没有）有可能跨越界限”。

Because Torres declined to specifically name whether—and how—Ripple had continued to violate securities laws, the question of when digital token sales constitute securities offerings will remain open. "That points to continued guardrails around conduct in the market, and also the fact that this remains an unsettled area of the law," said Castelluccio.

由于托雷斯拒绝具体说明 Ripple 是否以及如何继续违反证券法，因此数字代币销售何时构成证券发行的问题仍将悬而未决。卡斯特卢西奥表示：“这表明市场行为仍受到监管，而且这仍然是法律上一个尚未解决的领域。”

Even if Torres had been more firm in her language, it would be unlikely to impact the behavior of other companies, given the ongoing litigation by the SEC against crypto firms like Coinbase and Binance. Moreover, because other federal judges have sharply deviated from Torres's decision—with two in the Southern District of New York finding that secondary sales could also violate securities laws—the disagreements will not be settled until the cases wind their way up to the appellate level.

即使托雷斯的措辞更加坚定，也不太可能影响其他公司的行为，因为美国证券交易委员会正在针对 Coinbase 和 Binance 等加密货币公司提起诉讼。此外，由于其他联邦法官严重偏离托雷斯的决定——纽约南区的两名法官认为二次销售也可能违反证券法——在案件最终进入上诉阶段之前，分歧不会得到解决。

Given that the SEC already tried—and failed—to file an appeal in the Ripple case before Torres's final decision, the agency will likely again appeal the ruling, including the matter of secondary sales and the penalty

鉴于在托雷斯做出最终决定之前，美国证券交易委员会已经尝试就 Ripple 案提出上诉，但未能成功，该机构可能会再次对该裁决提出上诉，包括二次销售和罚款问题