Final Judgment on LBRY vs SEC Case Raises Several Questions

• The court rules that LBRY, Inc. violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933.
• Attorneys assess the significance of this judgement in regard to Coinbase and Ripple case.

The United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire has released its final judgement in the case of SEC v. LBRY. The court rules that LBRY, Inc. violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 and penalizes the company accordingly.

In light of the continuing legal struggle between the SEC and others like Coinbase and Ripple, attorneys assess the significance of this judgement.

Violation of Securities Act

The Court approved the SEC’s Motion for Summary Judgement on November 7, 2022, finding LBRY liable for breaching Section 5 of the Securities Act. In light of the Court’s decision (Doc. 86), the Commission moved for the entry of a Final Judgement, which the Court has now granted.

As a result of the Final Judgement, LBRY is prohibited from further breaching Section 5 of the Securities Act. In addition, under Section 21(d)(5) of the Exchange Act, LBRY is permanently prohibited from taking part in, or causing or permitting any other person to take part in, any issuance of crypto asset securities that is not registered under the Act.

The LBRY decision casts doubt on how the pending dispute between the SEC and Ripple and Coinbase will turn out. The Major Questions Doctrine and secondary sales were not addressed in the LBRY judgement, which instead focused on Section 5 infractions.

Similar claims about the selling of XRP as unregistered securities are at the heart of Ripple’s argument. According to Deaton, the SEC used the summary judgement ruling in the LBRY case to support its position in the Coinbase case, arguing that the court erred in failing to distinguish between primary sales from the issuer (LBRY) and secondary sales on exchanges.

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