The SEC’s decision to drop its appeal marks the end of a four-year legal battle that shaped crypto regulation and impacted Ripple’s operations
XRP surged 10% on Wednesday after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced in an X post that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “will drop its appeal” against the company.
Speaking later at the Digital Assets Summit in New York, Garlinghouse called the development a long-overdue victory, marking the conclusion of a legal dispute that began in 2020 over the classification of XRP as a security.
“It’s been almost four years and about three months since the SEC originally sued us, certainly a painful journey in lots of ways,” Garlinghouse said at the summit.
“I really deeply believed that we were going to be on the right side of the law and on the right side of history.”
Garlinghouse also expressed frustration with the regulatory challenges Ripple faced during the lawsuit.
“The system just feels broken. That we had to fight this fight for the industry and you had an SEC attacking the industry, particularly the Ripple case,” he stated.
“There were no victims, there was no investor loss. They were just not acting in good faith.”
In his X post, Garlinghouse described the SEC’s dismissal as “a resounding victory for Ripple, for crypto, every way you look at it.”
The SEC vs. Ripple: a four-year legal battle coming to an end
The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, claiming it raised $1.3 billion through unregistered XRP sales. The case centered on whether XRP was a security under U.S. law.
In July 2023, Ripple scored a partial victory when U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP wasn’t a security when sold to retail investors but an unregistered offering for institutional sales. Ripple was fined $125 million, which is still in play, and the SEC continued pursuing the case.
Since then, the regulatory landscape has shifted. Under former President Joe Biden, the SEC aggressively targeted crypto firms like Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap.
However, since President Donald Trump took office in 2025, the SEC has eased its stance, dropping lawsuits and favoring a more crypto-friendly approach, especially for XRP.
Garlinghouse linked Ripple’s legal victory to this shift. “The new chapter started with the reset at both the Congress and the executive branch,” he said. “When Trump came in and nominated Paul Atkins, Scott Bessent, [and] brought on David Sacks.”
“The future is bright” after this “victory” for the crypto industry
The SEC’s dismissal of the Ripple case is a landmark moment for the cryptocurrency industry.
Market participants view it as a sign that regulatory scrutiny on crypto may ease, potentially paving the way for more institutional adoption and clearer guidelines for blockchain-based projects.
“This feels like a victory for the industry and the beginning of a new chapter,” Garlinghouse remarked.
“Ripple has invested over $2 billion in investments and acquisitions across the crypto landscape, and some of those have nothing to do with XRP because if crypto does well, I fundamentally believe Ripple will do well.”
The price of XRP’s 10% jump reflects renewed investor confidence in Ripple and its future operations.
Analysts predict that regulatory clarity will attract more capital to the digital asset space, with XRP stating that they’ve “never seen XRP more bullish than this before”.
Ripple’s victory sets a precedent that could influence future cases involving digital assets. With the legal battle behind it, Ripple is now focused on expansion and innovation.
“The future is bright. Let’s build,” Garlinghouse concluded.
