Ripple vs. SEC: Settlement Hangs in Balance as Court Approval Awaits

The crypto world holds its breath as Ripple's fate dangles in legal limbo—yet another reminder that blockchain moves at light speed while regulators still fax their memos.

Behind the gavel: No rubber stamp yet for the proposed settlement between the SEC and Ripple Labs, despite both parties signaling readiness. The court's silence speaks volumes in this high-stakes showdown.

Market déjà vu: XRP traders relive 2020's anxiety as the SEC's disclosure confirms what crypto veterans know too well—the only thing slower than proof-of-work validation is government paperwork.

Epic showdown: When Silicon Valley disruptors meet Washington's red tape, everyone loses except the lawyers billing by the hour. The final ruling could set precedent—or just kick the can down the road until the next bull run.

What does this disclosure mean?

While many have raised this new disclosure as a sign that the five-year legal drama over XRP’s status might not be fully over, observers believe it is not necessarily true. One comment pointed out that the filing only shows that the SEC v Ripple case is not over legally, even though it is over in principle. The approval only represents a formality, but it is still necessary for the court of appeals to dismiss the appeal.

Interestingly, the debate on whether the court needs to do anything after the SEC and Ripple agreed to settle the case has been raging in the XRP community before now.

Commentators also argued that the district court did not need to approve any settlement, while others noted that the case status on the court website has yet to reflect the dismissal and closure. It now appears the procedural step is necessary to bring full legal closure to the case.

Meanwhile, the question remains when the Court of Appeal will approve the dismissal and whether Judge Analisa Torres of the District Court still needs to approve the settlement. So far, it has been a week since the Joint Stipulation of Dismissal was filed on August 7.

However, the District Court Judge has no say in this, given that she has already refused to approve an initial settlement allowing Ripple to waive the $125 million fine and an injunction against institutional sales of XRP.

Under the new settlement, the ruling on fines and the injunction stands, but the SEC has already removed the bad actor designation from Ripple, allowing the company to raise money in the private financial markets, effectively bypassing the court injunction.

XRP sees slight gains amid market correction

Meanwhile, XRP investors do not see the recent SEC filing as a big deal, as many now consider the case settled and over. This reflects in the token price performance, with XRP up 1.54% in the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap.

Its performance within that period sharply contrasts with the rest of the market, given that other major cap tokens have fallen in value. Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and BNB have all declined today.

However, XRP’s performance over the past week and month is worse than that of these assets. At $3.14, the token is down 5.87% in seven days and 3.92% in 30 days, remaining far off from its peak of $3.64 within the period.

Despite this short-term drop in value, XRP remains one of the best-performing crypto assets this year. It is up 35.34% so far in 2025, beating out almost every major cap altcoin, including ETH. TRON Network TRX and Hyperliquid HYPE are the top ten cryptocurrencies performing better than XRP this year.

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