Breaking: Ripple Drops Cross Appeal Against SEC, Ending XRP Lawsuit

In a massive development, the XRP lawsuit, which began in December 2020, is finally coming to an end. This comes as Ripple announced plans to drop its appeal against the SEC, while the Commission is expected to follow suit.

XRP Lawsuit To End As Ripple And SEC Drop Appeals

In an X post, Brad Garlinghouse announced that Ripple is dropping its cross-appeal against the SEC and that the Commission will do the same by dropping its appeal against the crypto firm.

He further remarked that they are closing this chapter once and for all and focusing on what is important, which is building the Internet of Value. This comes just a day after Judge Torres denied the joint motion for an indicative ruling in the XRP lawsuit.

Judge Torres had told both parties that they had the option of ending the litigation by simply dropping their appeals. Both parties have now chosen to take this route instead of pushing forward with their respective appeals.

As CoinGape reported, legal expert Fred Rispoli had predicted that Ripple and the SEC would drop their appeals instead of challenging Judge Torres’ ruling on the injunction in the appeals court. With this move, the injunction would remain in place.

However, both parties have already agreed that Ripple should pay $50 million as against the $125 million penalty that Judge Torres ordered in her final judgment in the XRP lawsuit. This decision would finally put an end to the legal battle that began in December 2020.

Backstory To The Lawsuit

The lawsuit had reached a notable phase last year, after Judge Torres ruled that Ripple violated securities laws through its institutional XRP sales and ordered a $125 million penalty against the crypto firm. However, she had ruled before then that XRP wasn’t a security in itself.

The SEC, under Gary Gensler, subsequently appealed Judge Torres’ ruling, requesting a higher monetary fine. Meanwhile, Ripple filed a cross-appeal in the XRP lawsuit, challenging the injunction and requesting a reduction in the fine.

However, following Donald Trump’s inauguration, the SEC adopted a more friendly approach to the crypto industry, which led to the Commission settling with Ripple. Both parties agreed that the Commission would take only $50 million of the monetary judgment, while the SEC would also request that Judge Torres dissolve the injunction.

However, Judge Torres denied the motion to adopt this settlement agreement on two occasions. The first was a procedural error, and the second, which was yesterday, was on the grounds that they didn’t show exceptional circumstances.

Ripple and the SEC have now decided to close this XRP lawsuit chapter, rather than continue with the appeals in a bid to seek relief from Judge Torres’ judgment. The XRP price rallied to as high as $2.149 on the back of this announcement.

CoinMarketCap data shows that the altcoin is up almost 2% in the last hour. XRP is also up in the last 24 hours, having recovered from a dip to an intraday low of $2.07.