Introduction

The US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ripple with conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering by selling a cryptocurrency XRP. At the center of the suit is the question over whether XRP, the crypto token on which Ripple's services are based, should be classified as a security or something else entirely. If the court rules that XRP is a security, it would follow that almost all other crypto tokens are too, making them subject to the SEC's supervision.