After an extended legal battle, a resolution between Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be on the horizon, as reported by multiple insiders.
This case stems from December 2020 when the SEC charged Ripple with raising over $1.3 billion through unregistered sales of its associated XRP token. It appears the protracted proceedings could be concluding, although last-minute negotiations concerning the terms are still taking place.
Insiders indicate that Ripple’s legal team is seeking to renegotiate certain elements of a key ruling made in 2023 by District Judge Analisa Torres from the Southern District of New York (SDNY). This ruling imposed a $125 million penalty on Ripple for its institutional sales of XRP, classifying them as unregistered securities offerings, while avoiding the nearly $2 billion fine initially sought by the SEC. The SEC filed an appeal against Torres’ decision just before former Chair Gary Gensler left his position.
Judge Torres’ decision was generally regarded as a victory for Ripple at the time, as it concluded that their programmatic sales of XRP to exchanges for retail purchase did not meet the criteria for securities transactions. Nevertheless, with the SEC’s current leadership now retreating from numerous crypto-related investigations and agreeing to drop ongoing enforcement actions against firms like Coinbase, Cumberland DRW, and Kraken, Ripple’s partial triumph may not feel as gratifying.
Following the news, XRP saw a 3% increase.
Ripple did not provide a comment when approached for a response by press time.
Learn more: Ripple Plans ‘Cross-Appeal’ in SEC Case