The Securities and Exchange Commission (#SEC ) and #Ripple Labs ended a years-long legal battle by filing a joint statement to withdraw appeals in the case regarding the status of token $XRP . The companies agreed to resolve a dispute that lasted nearly five years and became one of the most significant regulatory cases in the cryptocurrency industry.
Joint decision to withdraw appeals
On Thursday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals recorded the joint request of the parties to dismiss the case. The SEC withdrew its appeal, and Ripple withdrew its counter-appeal, with each party to bear its own legal costs.
"After today’s vote, the SEC and Ripple officially filed documents directly with the Second Circuit to withdraw their appeals," wrote Ripple's Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty on social media X on Thursday. "This is the end... and now let's get back to business," he added.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple at the end of 2020 in federal court, accusing the company of selling XRP tokens as unregistered securities. A federal judge issued a mixed ruling in July 2023, acknowledging that some tokens may be considered securities - a ruling that the regulator appealed.
Final ruling by Judge Torres
After abandoning the appellate process, the decision of federal judge Analisa Torres from 2023 will become final. Judge Torres ruled that the XRP tokens sold by Ripple on public exchanges do not meet the definition of a security, but tokens sold to institutional investors were sold as unregistered securities.
Later, she ordered Ripple to pay a fine of $125 million to the SEC - significantly less than the $2 billion the regulator sought. The fine and Judge Torres's decision prompted the regulator to file an appeal in October, to which Ripple responded with a counter-appeal.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple during the first administration of Donald Trump. However, Trump promised during his current and second administration to end regulatory persecution of cryptocurrencies, and the SEC dropped many lawsuits filed against crypto companies.
The SEC and Ripple filed a joint motion in the Second Circuit in April to suspend the SEC's appeal and Ripple's counter-appeal after Ripple hinted at this a few weeks earlier.
The parties reached an agreement in May and requested Judge Torres to lift the injunction and reduce the $125 million fine against Ripple. The judge rejected the latter proposal in June, stating that Ripple is still obliged to comply with federal securities laws regardless of changes in the SEC's regulatory policy.
XRP rises above $3
The movement towards settlement has been the main catalyst for the increase in XRP's price in recent months. The token rose nearly 99% from the 2025 low of $1.79 on April 9 to a peak of $3.56 on July 22, according to CoinGecko data. The price of XRP briefly fell below $3 but has risen by 10.6% in the last 24 hours to $3.31.