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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs Inc. have formally closed their legal dispute, filing to end their respective appeals in the case over the sale of $XRP tokens.
In a joint filing dated Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the SEC withdrew its appeal and Ripple abandoned its cross-appeal, with each party agreeing to bear its own legal costs.
The official end to the years-long dispute, finalizing a June agreement for Ripple to pay a $125 million civil penalty, coincided with a more than 10% jump in $XRP over the past 24 hours to $3.31, according to CoinGecko.
That penalty, placed in escrow, will be transferred to the U.S. Treasury following the dismissal of the appeals. A permanent injunction restricting Ripple’s institutional sales of $XRP remains in effect.
The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, alleging the company and two of its executives conducted an unregistered securities offering by selling $XRP, the world’s third-largest crypto by market capitalization.
Ripple denied the allegations, arguing that $XRP is not a security.
In October 2023, the SEC dropped its claims against Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen, after a judge’s partial ruling in the company’s favor.
Both men had been accused of aiding and abetting Ripple’s alleged unregistered securities sales.
In 2023, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres issued a split ruling, finding that some sales of $XRP to institutional investors violated securities laws, but sales on public exchanges did not.
That decision was hailed as a partial victory for the crypto industry, though it left Ripple liable for institutional sales.
The conclusion of the appeals process leaves the 2023 ruling intact, cementing a precedent likely to influence how regulators and courts assess the classification of crypto going forward.