Ripple Labs Only Pays $125 Million in SEC Lawsuit, XRP Price Surges

A federal judge has ordered Ripple Labs to pay a $125 million fine in a lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ).

According to an August 7 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Analisa Torres found that Ripple violated securities laws and ordered the company to pay the amount within 30 days. The ruling was based on 1,278 transactions that violated Section 5, with a total civil penalty of $125,035,150.

Source: SDNY

Judge Torres noted that Ripple’s sale after filing a complaint with the SEC may not have violated federal law, but it could do so in the future. She said Ripple may have exceeded the limits of the injunction, suggesting the injunction may need to be adjusted in the future.

“A win for Ripple”

In an August 7 post on social media X, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the ruling “ a win for Ripple, the industry, and the rule of law ” as the court reduced the SEC’s proposed fine by 94%.

Chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty confirmed that Ripple will “ respect the $125 million fine .” Garlinghouse added that the company will continue to grow and that the SEC’s obstacles to the XRP community are no longer there.

The ruling could mark the final stage of the lawsuit between Ripple and the SEC, which began in December 2020 when the SEC accused Ripple of using XRP as an unregistered security to raise capital.

In July 2023, Judge Torres ruled that XRP tokens were not securities in exchange transactions. The SEC initially sued both CEO Brad Garlinghouse and chairman Chris Larsen but dismissed the claims in 2023.

Following the ruling, the price of XRP increased by about 24%, from $0.50 to $0.62.