06/14/2025

Both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple filed a request for the release of $125 million from an escrow account as the case concluded, as the lawsuit against Ripple, filed by the SEC in December 2020, finally ended.

Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly filed a request on Thursday for the release of $125 million from funds deposited in an escrow account to cover the settlement costs ordered by the court.

According to the message submitted by both parties, $50 million will be transferred to the SEC to cover the civil penalty imposed on Ripple, with the remaining $75 million to be returned to Ripple, pending court approval. The petitioners' attorneys wrote:

"The proposed resolution by both parties will preserve the resources of the Second Circuit by avoiding the need to adjudicate appeals, preventing any referral for further proceedings in this court, and ending 4.5 years of hard litigation."

The SEC's lawsuit against Ripple is a landmark case in the realm of cryptocurrency regulations in the U.S., and the formal conclusion of the litigation will serve as a symbolic victory for a sector that has already achieved a significant win in its struggle for legal legitimacy in the United States.

In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that secondary sales of the XRP token (XRP) are not securities, granting Ripple and the cryptocurrency sector a partial, albeit significant, victory.

However, the judge also ruled that the sale of XRP to investors during funding rounds constitutes a sale of securities due to how the tokens were presented as compensation for investment in a business project.

Ripple was ordered to pay a $125 million fine to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under a subsequent ruling issued by Judge Torres in August 2024.

Due to her dissatisfaction with the outcome of the case, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an appeal in October 2024, about a month before the U.S. presidential elections of 2024.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, announced that the SEC would drop the appeal, in a post on platform X on March 19, accompanied by a video statement from the CEO celebrating the outcome as an 'actual' end to the case.

Shortly after the announcement, Ripple agreed to drop its joint appeal with the SEC. The cryptocurrency company also received a refund from a lower court, allowing it to retain $75 million of the $125 million fine imposed in the August 2024 ruling.

Cointelegraph