In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, accusing the company of conducting an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP, which the SEC classified as a security. In July of last year, a U.S. court ruled that Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors qualified as securities transactions. However, it also determined that sales of XRP on public exchanges did not fall under the definition of a security. In October, the SEC appealed against this ruling, seeking further clarification on the legal status of XRP.