Ripple Lawsuit Ends with Surprising Procedural Flaw: SEC's Joint Modification of Judgment Rejected by Judge
【Last Mile Mishap: Settlement Motion Unexpectedly Steps on Legal Procedural Landmines】
On June 22, New York Court Judge Analisa Torres issued a ruling that directly contradicted the 'collaborative effort' between Ripple and the SEC— the jointly submitted modification of the fine agreement was dismissed on the grounds of procedural violations. The core issues are:
【Dispute Over Reduced Fine】: Both parties attempted to reduce the $125 million fine to $50 million and lift the sales ban on Ripple, but failed to cite legal basis under Rule 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
【Jurisdictional Trap】: Judge Torres emphasized that the case had entered the appellate stage, and the court had no authority to arbitrarily modify the final judgment unless 'extremely special circumstances' were proven—yet neither party cited even the basic legal provisions.
This 'legal flash mob' exposed a common vulnerability between regulators and projects: an eagerness to end the lawsuit while disregarding procedural justice, leading to a backlash from the judicial system.
【Who is Delaying the End? Ripple's 'Passing the Buck' Game Uncovered】
Lawyer Bill Morgan directly punctured Ripple's PR narrative: the root of the delay lies with the project party, not the SEC. Evidence shows:
【Rare Concession from SEC】: Actively withdrew the appeal and agreed to lift the sales ban, showing a willingness to settle;
【Ripple Takes Advantage】: Leveraging the SEC's policy shift (the Trump administration's support for the crypto industry) to demand further reductions in fines, even attempting to overturn the 2023 classification of 'institutional sales violations'.
【Market Impact: XRP's 'Compliance Persona' and Liquidity Crisis】
Despite the stalemate in the lawsuit, XRP still shows three major contradictory signals:
【Surge in Institutional Holdings】: On-chain monitoring shows that in the past week, whale addresses increased their holdings by 120 million XRP, pushing the price up 8% to $2.3 against the trend.
【Insufficient Ecosystem Self-Sustainability】: The on-chain TVL of XRPL is only $40 million, less than 1% of Solana's, and the annualized arbitrage returns of the DeFi protocol Doppler have sharply dropped to 9%, exacerbating liquidity shrinkage.
【Regulatory Identity in Question】: Although referred to by some media as the 'only SEC-compliant token', the judge's ruling clearly retains the classification of 'institutional sales as securities', laying future regulatory landmines.
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