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Paul Kisslinger Speaks with Bloomberg Law About Impact of Ripple XRP Ruling

Washington, D.C. (July 17, 2023) – Washington D.C. Partner and Chair of Lewis Brisbois’ SEC Enforcement & Litigation Practice Paul W. Kisslinger was recently quoted in a Bloomberg Law article about a case involving cryptocurrency firm Ripple Labs’ XRP token. In an eagerly anticipated decision, United States District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP is a security when sold to institutional investors, but not the general public. 

As the article, titled “Ripple XRP Sold to Public Not Securities, Judge Says,” explains, Judge Torres said that Ripple’s sales of its XRP tokens to sophisticated institutional investors met the test for an investment contract under federal securities law. However, this did not apply to the broader public purchasing cryptocurrency on exchanges, since there was no evidence that programmatic investors could reasonably parse statements made by Ripple about XRP. 

In discussing the case, Mr. Kisslinger told Bloomberg Law that the ruling was a potential blow to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) jurisdiction due to most of the cryptocurrency community being retail investors, rather than hedge funds or institutional investors. 

“Judge Torres’s ruling, finding that XRP tokens are a security for institutional sales, but not for public sales, will have a propound impact on cases going forward,” said Mr. Kisslinger. “If adopted by other courts, especially appellate courts, this will certainly narrow the SEC’s enforcement jurisdiction involving exchanges.” 

Mr. Kisslinger joined Lewis Brisbois earlier this year as chair of its SEC Enforcement & Litigation Practice after spending almost two decades with the SEC, most recently as its assistant chief litigation counsel. He also serves as co-chair of the firm's Securities Class Action Defense Practice. Mr. Kisslinger has extensive experience in the private and public sectors successfully guiding clients through the choppy waters of regulatory enforcement actions brought by securities and other financial services regulators, internal and external investigations, and legislative inquiries.  

Read the full Bloomberg Law article here (subscription may be required). 

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