The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it would appeal a federal judge's ruling in its case against Ripple on Wednesday.

The regulatory body filed a notice of appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals just under two months after Judge Analisa Torres issued her final judgement in the four-year-old case against the crypto company.

In July 2023, the judge ruled that while Ripple violated federal securities law through its institutional sales of XRP, its programmatic sales to retail exchanges did not violate securities rules. The SEC's attempt to file an interlocutory appeal against the motion for summary judgement was denied by the judge.

This past August, Judge Torres imposed a $125 million fine against Ripple, significantly lower than the nearly $2 billion the SEC sought. The enforcement of this fine was stayed until after the SEC's deadline for filing an appeal had elapsed or the appeal was resolved by the circuit court.

A spokesperson for the SEC stated, "We believe that the district court decision in the Ripple matter conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and securities laws and look forward to making our case to the Second Circuit."

After this article's publication, a Ripple spokesperson referred CoinDesk to tweets by CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty. "[The SEC] lost on everything that matters," Garlinghouse tweeted. "Ripple, the crypto industry and the rule of law have already prevailed... XRP's status as a non-security is the law of the land today."

Alderoty called the appeal "disappointing, but not surprising." In an interview in August, Alderoty mentioned he expected the regulator to face challenges convincing an appeals court to overturn a district court judge's ruling.

"Even if they do appeal, I would just tell everyone 'take a deep breath,'" he advised at that time.

While the SEC has filed its notice of appeal, it has not yet filed the actual appeal.