Ripple Labs and the SEC May Soon Reach a Resolution in Their Long-Running Legal Showdown

The case, which has dragged on since December 2020 when the SEC accused Ripple of raising over $1 billion through unregistered sales of its

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs may soon be reaching a settlement in their long-running legal battle, according to two well-placed sources, Fox Business reported on Monday, citing “two well-placed sources.”

The case, which began in December 2020 when the SEC accused Ripple of selling unregistered securities to raise over $1.3 billion, could be wrapping up — though not without last-minute bickering over its terms.

Sources told Fox that Ripple’s legal team is pushing to renegotiate aspects of a pivotal 2023 ruling by District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York (SDNY). That decision ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million penalty for its institutional XRP sales, which the court deemed unregistered securities offerings while sparing the company the nearly $2 billion fine the SEC had demanded. The SEC appealed Torres’ ruling shortly before former Chair Gary Gensler stepped down.

Torres’ ruling was widely considered to be a win for Ripple at the time it was issued, because the court decided that its programmatic sales of XRP to exchanges for purchase by retail traders did not constitute securities transactions. However, now that the SEC and its new leadership is in a full-scale retreat from many of its investigations into crypto companies, and has agreed to drop ongoing enforcement suits against companies like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), Cumberland DRW and Kraken, Ripple’s partial victory may not taste quite as sweet.

XRP rose 3% on the news.

A representative for Ripple did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.