As part of its multi-year-long litigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a New York court on Wednesday ordered fintech company Ripple to pay a $125 million fine after finding in July 2023 that its institutional sales of XRP broke federal securities laws.
The civil penalty is significantly less than the absurd $2 billion previously sought by the SEC. XRP investors have seen this as super bullish, with the cryptocurrency exploding by nearly 24% after the judgment was published.
Ripple-SEC Case Ends With $125M Fine
Ripple has scored another partial victory in its protracted legal brawl with the SEC.
In an Aug. 7 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Analisa Torres ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million civil penalty, ruling that 1,278 transactions broke securities laws.
“The SEC’s motion for remedies and the entry of final judgment is granted in part and denied in part,” said Judge Torres. “The court shall enter a final judgment enjoining Ripple from further violations of the securities laws and imposing a civil penalty of $125,035,150.”
The $125 million fine is well below the $1 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and $900 million in civil penalty the SEC had demanded.
Notably, the Judge banned Ripple from future violations of federal securities laws, clarifying that while she wasn’t making a judgment that Ripple has violated any laws after the SEC lodged its suit, the company may well “cross the line.”
Wednesday’s ruling on remedies follows Torres’ July 2023 ruling in the case, where she found that Ripple broke federal securities laws via its direct sale of XRP to institutional customers, though she also ruled that the company’s programmatic sales of XRP to retail clients through crypto exchanges were not in violation of any securities laws.
No More SEC Headwinds Against XRP
Ripple must pay the $125M penalties to the SEC within 30 days following the entry of the final judgment. The company could transfer the payment electronically from a bank account or by certified check.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse suggested in an August 7 X post that the ruling was a “victory for Ripple, the industry, and the rule of law” given the court slashed the SEC’s proposed fine by a staggering 94%. Ripple’s chief legal head Stuart Alderoty indicated that the blockchain firm would “respect the $125 million fine.”
“We respect the Court’s decision and have clarity to continue growing our company,” Garlinghouse postulated. “The SEC’s headwinds against the whole of the XRP community are gone.”
A storm of optimism is now blowing among XRP fans, who believe the latest court victory could be the catalyst that propels the token to new all-time high prices above the coveted $3 milestone.
At press time, XRP is trading for $0.6314 per coin, reflecting a 23.8% gain over the past 24 hours. Notably, the coin is approximately 81.4% below its 2018 all-time high of $3.84.
Is XRP inching its way to setting a new lifetime record in the foreseeable future?
