The U.S. SEC and Ripple have jointly filed a motion to dismiss the appeals and cross-appeals in the Second Circuit. The parties filed the motion yesterday under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b)(1), officially bringing their nearly five-year legal tussle to an end. Notably, the SEC and Ripple submitted a joint stipulation for dismissal following an internal vote at the commission yesterday. With most commissioners favoring a dismissal, the SEC, Ripple, and its execs–Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse–jointly agree to withdraw the appeal and cross-appeal. According to the motion, each party would bear its own costs and fees. Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO), Stuart Alderoty, also confirmed the parties’ move to dismiss their appeals in the Second Circuit. Notably, Alderoty declared an end to the longstanding lawsuit, emphasizing that Ripple is now back to business. https://twitter.com/FilanLaw/status/1953565962810093785SEC v. Ripple Case OverviewFor context, the SEC officially introduced the Ripple case on December 22, 2020. It alleged that the company violated federal securities laws by illegally selling XRP to U.S. investors. Notably, the case began in full in early 2021. After a heated legal battle that cost Ripple over $150 million, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres issued her summary judgment decision in July 2023. In the ruling , she held that XRP is not a security in itself and that Ripple’s programmatic sales of the token on digital exchanges were not investment contracts. However, she declared that Ripple violated the law via its past XRP sales to institutions. For this violation, the judge ordered Ripple to pay a fine of $125 million and also imposed a permanent injunction on the company’s future institutional sales. Ripple and SEC Appeals Unsatisfied with the verdict, the SEC, under the leadership of Gary Gensler, initiated an appeal, challenging the judge’s programmatic sales ruling. Ripple followed suit and filed a cross-appeal to overturn the decision on its past institutional sales. Following the re-election of President Donald Trump, the regulatory landscape shifted, and market watchers widely speculated that the parties would drop their appeals. That projection materialized in early 2025 when the SEC and Ripple agreed to pursue a resolution. The agreement involves modifying Judge Torres’ final judgment to potentially slash Ripple’s fine from $125 million to $50 million and dismiss the permanent injunction. Judge Torres declined to modify her final decision but urged the parties to withdraw their respective appeals. The SEC and Ripple have finally decided to end their longstanding legal battle by officially filing a joint motion to dismiss their appeals. Once the Second Circuit enters the motion, the parties’ appeals will be terminated, ending the nearly five-year lawsuit surrounding XRP and Ripple. XRP Sees Double-Digit GainsAs expected, the move significantly impacted the price of XRP, which initially plunged below the $3 mark earlier this week. With the parties filing the joint motion for dismissal, XRP rallied significantly to an intra-day high of $3.38. It is currently trading at $3.34, marking an upsurge of 12.34% over the past day and 12.27% in the past week.
