Ripple has been locked in a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for more than three years. The presiding judge ruled on Wednesday that Ripple violated securities laws by selling Ripple (XRP) directly to institutional customers and fined it $125 million. US dollars, far less than the total fine of nearly US$2 billion requested by the SEC. As the lawsuit battle came to an end, the price of XRP soared 21% to $0.62 today (8th).
District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York on Wednesday upheld the original judgment in July last year, finding that Ripple did nothing wrong by selling XRP to retail investors on exchanges, but that 1,278 sales transactions with institutional customers violated securities laws. However, it is still not ruled out that the US SEC will continue to appeal.
During the case, the SEC attempted to appeal this part of the ruling, but failed.
The US SEC dropped its charges against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen in October last year, and in March this year asked the court to impose a fine of nearly US$2 billion on Ripple, including US$198.2 million in prejudgment interest, US$876.3 million US dollars in civil penalties and US$876.3 million in ill-gotten gains.
In Wednesday's ruling, presiding judge Analisa Torres, in addition to requiring Ripple to pay a $125 million fine, issued an injunction prohibiting Ripple from further violating securities laws and requiring Ripple to file a registration statement before selling securities in the future. .
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse issued a message after the ruling, saying that the court cut off 94% of the US$2 billion fine requested by the U.S. SEC. He respects the court's decision and believes that this judgment has brought great benefits to Ripple, the cryptocurrency industry and legal rules. Victory, he emphasized that the resistance of the US SEC to the entire XRP community has been eliminated.
The SEC asked for $2B, and the Court reduced their demand by ~94% recognizing that they had overplayed their hand. We respect the Court’s decision and have clarity to continue growing our company.
This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law. The SEC’s…
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 7, 2024
"The U.S. SEC requested a heavy fine of nearly US$2 billion for Ripple, but the court slashed the fine to US$125 million." This article was first published on "Blocker".
