Ripple Walks Away Paying Just $50 Million to SEC Over XRP Lawsuit

Ripple Labs has agreed to pay a $50 million fine to end the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s years-long investigation into the Ripple-linked firm, the company’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said on Tuesday.

“The SEC will keep $50M of the $125M fine,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to the penalty Ripple Labs was ordered to pay by a New York court in August over unregistered XRP sales to institutional investors.

Alderoty said that Ripple has meanwhile agreed to drop its cross-appeal of U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres’ decision, which found that XRP is “not necessarily a security on its face,” especially within the context of programmatic sales to unknown buyers.

The SEC, under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler, sought a $2 billion penalty against ripple labs for what it claimed were unregistered securities transactions. The SEC first brought its lawsuit against Ripple Labs during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

Alderoty’s declaration follows Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s recognition that the SEC’s case has ended. He described it as a “long overdue surrender” on the regulator’s part last week.

The SEC’s about-face was widely expected following Trump’s reelection. Since Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda took over the agency’s reins, it has retreated from several enforcement cases, including those against the crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken.

Alderoty said on Tuesday that the decision is subject to Commission vote, echoing a video posted alongside Garlinghouse’s announcement last week. 

A Ripple spokesperson told Decrypt then that the “timeline is completely in the SEC's control,” and it may take “several weeks” for the case to be officially withdrawn.

Edited by James Rubin