US federal judge Analisa Torres has concluded the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit, ordering Ripple Labs to pay a $125 million fine. This penalty is much lower than the nearly $2 billion initially sought by the SEC.
The decision ends a long legal battle that began in 2020 when the SEC accused Ripple of selling XRP tokens without proper registration. The SEC claimed XRP was a security and filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, putting the company under significant legal pressure.
Judge Torres’s ruling on August 7 clarified that Ripple’s actions did not involve fraud. This significantly influenced the final penalty amount. The judgment also ordered Ripple to comply with securities laws in the future.
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, expressed relief that the court reduced the SEC’s demand by about 94%. He said the firm now has the clarity needed to continue growing its business. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, noted that the case had no allegations of fraud or deliberate misconduct, and no financial harm was reported.
Following the court’s decision, XRP’s price surged from $0.5018 to $0.6373, a 27% increase within one and a half hours. As of now, XRP is trading at $0.6171.
