The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gave a surprising verdict in the Ripple vs. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case.
The court approved the joint stipulation of dismissal of appeals on Aug. 22, lawyer James Filan shared on X. The latest development has brought the years-long legal battle to its final stage.
Here is the complete story of the most controversial case of the crypto industry.
The SEC first sued Ripple Labs in December 2020, alleging the company conducted an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP. Ripple argued XRP is a digital currency, not a security.
In July 2023, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres delivered a landmark ruling as per which Ripple’s sales of XRP on crypto exchanges did not constitute securities violations, but its institutional sale of XRP violated securities laws.
In August 2024, the court slapped Ripple with a civil penalty of more than $125 million and issued an injunction that asked the crypto firm to desist from further violations of securities laws.
But then, Donald Trump came to power in January 2025, and everything began to change for the entire crypto industry.
Both parties dropped their appeals in March and filed a joint settlement in May. They also repeatedly urged Judge Torres to lower the penalty from more than $125 million to $50 million and vacate the injunction. Judge Torres didn’t entertain the request.
On Aug. 7, both parties decided to dismiss their appeals and cross-appeals, and the SEC even waived the disqualification Ripple had gained after the 2024 injunction. Now, Ripple can raise funds via both retail and institutional sales of XRP tokens.
After the court today approved the dismissal of appeals, XRP rose from $3.045 to $3.08.
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 22, 2025, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.