The US Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed one of the crypto industry's most controversial lawsuits

The SEC's dismissal of its years-long lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP Ledger blockchain network, is a “victory for the industry”

Cryptocurrency investors were in a festive mood this week after the US Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed one of the crypto industry’s most controversial lawsuits — one that resulted in an over four-year legal battle with Ripple Labs.

In another significant regulatory development, Solana-based futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have debuted in the US, a move that may signal the approval of spot Solana (SOL) ETFs as the “next logical step” for lawmakers.

SEC’s XRP reversal a ‘victory for the industry’: Ripple CEO

The SEC’s dismissal of its years-long lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP Ledger blockchain network, is a “victory for the industry,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said at Blockworks’ 2025 Digital Asset Summit in New York.

On March 19, Garlinghouse revealed that the SEC would dismiss its legal action against Ripple, ending four years of litigation against the blockchain developer for an alleged $1.3-billion unregistered securities offering in 2020.

“It feels like a victory for the industry and the beginning of a new chapter,” Garlinghouse said on March 19 at the Summit, which Cointelegraph attended.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is dropping its case against blockchain developer Ripple Labs.

The agency had sued Ripple in December 2020 for allegedly selling unregistered securities to raise $1.3 billion.

The SEC sued several crypto firms in 2020, launching a broad crackdown on the industry that began during former Chair Jay Clayton’s tenure.

The SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple focused on XRP, a cryptocurrency that investors can use to transfer value on the Ripple Ledger.

The SEC argued that XRP should be classified as a security, while Ripple maintained that XRP is a commodity.

In December 2022, the SEC sued crypto exchange Coinbase for allegedly operating as an unregistered exchange and selling unregistered securities.

The agency also sued Binance for allegedly operating an unregistered exchange, selling unregistered securities and serving as an unregistered broker-dealer.

Solana futures ETFs launch, signaling potential for spot products

The crypto industry is set to debut the first SOL futures ETF, a significant development that may pave the way for the first spot SOL ETF as the “next logical step” for crypto-based trading products, according to industry watchers.

Volatility Shares is launching two SOL futures ETFs, the Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and the Volatility Shares 2X Solana ETF (SOLT), on March 20.

The debut of the first SOL futures ETF may bring significant new institutional adoption for the SOL token, according to Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research.

The analyst told Cointelegraph:

The Solana ETF will grow institutional adoption by “offering a regulated investment vehicle, attracting billions in capital and reinforcing Solana’s competitiveness against Ethereum,” said Lee, adding that “Ethereum’s entrenched ecosystem remains a formidable barrier.”

Pump.fun launches own DEX, drops Raydium

Pump.fun has launched its own decentralized exchange (DEX) called PumpSwap, which may displace Raydium as the primary trading venue for Solana-based memecoins.

Starting on March 20, memecoins that successfully bootstrap liquidity, or “bond,” on Pump.fun will migrate directly to PumpSwap, Pump.fun said in an X post.

Previously, bonded Pump.fun tokens migrated to Raydium, which emerged as Solana’s most popular DEX, largely thanks to memecoin trading activity.

According to Pump.fun, PumpSwap “functions similarly to Raydium V4 and Uniswap V2” and is designed “to create the most frictionless environment for trading coins.”

“Migrations were a major point of friction - they slow a coin’s momentum and introduce needless complexity for new users,” Pump.fun said.

“Now, migrations happen instantly and for free.”

Bybit: 89% of stolen $1.4B crypto still traceable post-hack

The lion’s share of the hacked Bybit funds is still traceable after the historic cybertheft, with blockchain investigators continuing their efforts to freeze and recover the funds.

The crypto industry was rocked by the largest hack in history on Feb. 21 when Bybit lost over $1.4 billion in liquid-staked Ether (stETH), Mantle Staked ETH (mETH) and other digital assets.

According to the latest data from blockchain security firms, including Arkham Intelligence, North Korea’s Lazarus Group is the likely perpetrator of the Bybit exploit as the attackers continue swapping the funds in an effort to make them untraceable.

Despite Lazarus's efforts, over 88% of the stolen $1.4 billion remains traceable, according to Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange Bybit.

The CEO revealed in a March 20 X post that out of the stolen funds, 86.