In brief
- A federal judge in Manhattan denied a request from the SEC and Ripple.
- Both parties wanted to lower a civil penalty and alter an injunction.
- The judge denied the request less than two weeks after it was made.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres denied a proposal from Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, refusing to cut a $125 million penalty or toss out an injunction imposed against the XRP-linked firm last year.
Her decision comes less than two weeks after the SEC and Ripple requested that the court lower a civil penalty over illegal XRP sales to $50 million—far less than the $2 billion sought under former Chair Gary Gensler—and remove restrictions on Ripple’s ability to sell the asset.
In her five-page order, Torres cited a “compelling case” that the SEC built up over four years, which alleged that Ripple offered and sold XRP to investors as an unregistered security. Although Ripple’s so-called programmatic sales of XRP weren’t in violation of the law, Torres found in 2023 that Ripple’s sales to institutions were, warranting a “substantially reduced” fine.
Torres found Ripple and the SEC’s most recent arguments lacking, saying that while the SEC has the power to change course once an enforcement action is initiated, it and Ripple cannot agree to no longer be “bound by a court’s final judgment that a party violated” the law.
Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said on X, formerly Twitter, that “the ball is back in our court.” The company may choose to stick with its appeal, but “either way, XRP’s legal status as not a security remains unchanged,” he added.
A Ripple spokesperson directed Decrypt to Alderoty’s X post.
Although the SEC has struck a crypto-friendly tone under U.S. President Donald Trump, with the regulator abandoning several high-profile cases, Torres emphasized that the logic underpinning her decision in the SEC’s case against Ripple hasn’t changed over the past six months.
“None of this has changed—and the parties hardly pretend that it has,” she said. “Nevertheless, they now claim that it is in the public interest to cut the Civil Penalty by sixty percent and vacate the permanent injunction entered less than a year ago.”
Torres’ ruling highlights how Gensler’s SEC could have a lasting impact on the crypto industry, despite Republican-led efforts to walk back what critics say was regulation by enforcement. The lawsuit was first initiated under then-SEC chair Jay Clayton, a Trump nominee.
Torres noted that the SEC has dismissed other crypto cases “before a court found a violation of federal securities laws,” making its case against Ripple relatively distinct.
XRP was changing hands around $2.12 on Thursday, a 3.7% increase over the past day, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. Over the past year, XRP has soared 347%, partly due to the fact that the SEC no longer represents an existential threat, experts say.
In October, Alderoty told Decrypt that the company was willing to fight the SEC in the Supreme Court if necessary. But in her ruling, Torres noted the SEC and Ripple could also “end this litigation today” if they decided to withdraw those appeals.
Edited by James Rubin
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