The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just lost a major battle against Ripple Labs (XRP-USD) on March 11, as a federal judge allowed its “fair notice” defense. As a quick refresher, Ripple Labs formed XRP years ago and considered the coin a cryptocurrency. The SEC said the coin was a “security” and its sales should have been registered, even though it didn’t give “fair notice” to Ripple.

The SEC sued Ripple Labs and its two top executives, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse in 2020. Last month’s decision has empowered Ripple Labs with another line of defense.

The Daily Hodl reports this is a major decision. It quotes Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, as telling Bloomberg this is a win for whole crypto industry. It could eventually force the SEC to provide internal documents as to why it believes Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD) are okay as cryptocurrencies, but not XRP.

The online magazine Finance Feeds reports this could eventually force the SEC to stop its “regulation by enforcement” approach to the crypto industry.

In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Brad Garlinghouse said the SEC should try to provide regulatory clarity instead of filing threatening lawsuits. He believes the agency could provide clear rules for the crypto industry like other countries. In addition, he argues the SEC should treat XRP as a currency, just like other major countries such as the U.K., Switzerland and Japan do.

Finance Feeds reports this is not the end of the lawsuit. The SEC can still try to prevent “intrusive discovery” of its documents to Ripple. Nevertheless, it seems clear Ripple now has a much stronger case in an eventual trial.

That is likely a major reason why XRP has been rising lately. Since March 11, it is up almost 15% as of April 3. The coin’s price rose from 73.5 cents to more than 84.4 cents.

On the date of publication, Mark Hake did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.