SEC's Gensler 'Disappointed' by Part of Ripple's XRP Judgement, Still Assessing Opinion

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said Monday that he was disappointed with a district court's decision in the Ripple case regarding retail investors, but pleased with the part of the order which found that institutional sale of the tokens did violate federal securities laws.

"We’re pleased from that decision recognizing the importance of protecting investors on the institutional investors," Gensler said at an event of the National Press Club in Washington DC. "While disappointed on what they said about retail investors, we’re still looking at it and assessing that opinion."

Ripple scored a partial victory in its fight with the SEC last week with a court ruling that institutional sales of the tokens violated federal securities laws, but sales on exchanges and programmatic sales did not qualify as the sale of securities. That's because the SEC cannot definitively say speculative investors had “a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.”

Gensler declined to answer a question about what more the SEC needed to see to be confident about spot-bitcoin ETFs, citing ongoing litigation and the need for him, as SEC chair, to not prejudge the various applications in front of the regulatory body.

In response to a question that asked why the SEC seemed to regulate by enforcement instead of by rulemaking, like the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), Gensler said "we have done some rulemaking" including "notice and comment rulemaking" and "special purpose broker-dealer" licensing.

Read More: Ripple, Crypto Industry Score Partial Win in SEC Court Fight Over XRP