The SEC vs. Ripple Case May Be Nearing Its End - 12-03-25

After more than four years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to be nearing the conclusion of its legal action against Ripple Labs.

According to a March 12 post from Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, the SEC's case against Ripple is "in the process of concluding," after both parties filed an appeal and counter-appeal over a $125 million court ruling in August 2024. The civil lawsuit, filed in December 2020, accused Ripple and some of its executives of using XRP as an unregistered security to raise funds.

Ripple's legal director, Stuart Alderoty, told Cointelegraph on March 11 that the SEC case was "much more advanced" than other cases the regulator had dropped following U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration and the departure of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Since January, the SEC has announced that it will not continue enforcement actions against companies like Coinbase, Consensys, Kraken, and others.

"We have a ruling, we're in appeal, which adds some complexity," said Alderoty about the possibility of the case being dropped. "But we're still optimistic that we'll reach a resolution with the SEC, and if not, we will continue with the appeal."

Alderoty pointed out that there are several ways the case could end if both parties agreed to settle. If Ripple and the SEC independently decided to withdraw their appeals in the Second Circuit, the $125 million ruling from the lower court would stand. If there were a dispute over the monetary ruling, Ripple and the SEC would need to go "hand-in-hand" to request any modifications before a judge.

The SEC vs. Ripple case included one of the first significant judicial decisions in favor of the crypto industry, when Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP was not a security under the regulator’s jurisdiction, though only regarding programmatic sales on exchanges. As of the time of this publication, there were no records in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York or the Second Circuit Court of Appeals suggesting that the SEC plans to drop the case.