SEC, Ripple End Five-Year XRP Legal Battle with Appeals Dropped

Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have officially ended their five-year legal dispute over XRP by jointly dismissing all appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The resolution includes Ripple agreeing to pay a $125 million civil penalty, which is held in escrow and will be transferred to the U.S. Treasury, while both parties will bear their own legal costs. The lawsuit, originally filed in December 2020, centered on whether XRP sales constituted an unregistered securities offering, with Ripple obtaining a partial victory when XRP was deemed not a security in secondary market sales. The conclusion of this case removes further federal litigation risks for Ripple and is expected to influence future cryptocurrency regulatory frameworks in the U.S. Following the dismissal, XRP's price surged, reflecting increased investor optimism and institutional interest, with initiatives like Japan’s SBI Holdings planning to launch a Bitcoin/XRP ETF. Ripple is now focusing on expanding its ecosystem, including efforts to integrate XRP into the U.S. financial infrastructure through its application for a National Trust Bank in New York.