According to the order from the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York, Ripple first sold around $728.9 million worth of XRP directly to institutional buyers, hedge funds and other parties. These “institutional sales” constituted the unregistered offer and sale of investment contracts in violation of federal securities law, the order said, as it found investors would have purchased XRP with the expectation that they would profit from Ripple’s work.
