SEC, Ripple Ink $50M Settlement Agreement, Ask NY Judge for Green Light

Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have officially reached a deal that, if approved by a judge, will bring their years-long kanunî battle to a close.

According to a settlement agreement filed in New York on Thursday, both parties have agreed to a $50 million penalty — a portion of the $125 million fine initially imposed last year by Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), and a tiny fraction of the massive $2 billion fine initially requested by the SEC.

In her 2023 ruling, Judge Torres found that Ripple violated securities laws in selling its native XRP token to institutional investors, but did not violate securities laws in putting XRP on exchanges for retail customers to buy in a suit originally brought in 2020 under then-SEC Chair Jay Clayton (who’s now the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York).

The SEC, then under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler, appealed Torres’ ruling, prompting Ripple to cross-appeal. Under the settlement agreement, both parties agree to drop their cases. The Thursday filing confirms Ripple’s announcement in March that it had reached an in-principle settlement agreement with the SEC.

The settlement comes amidst the SEC’s full-scale retreat from a host of crypto investigations and litigation that began under Gensler’s tenure. After U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January and appointed crypto-friendly Paul Atkins to serve as the SEC’s new chairman, the agency has done an about-face on crypto regulation.

XRP climbed 9% on the news, continuing a 24-hour increase in value.

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