Court Slams SEC’s $125M XRP Penalty Demand as Judge Sides with Ripple in Landmark Ruling
Another day, another regulator swinging a blunt hammer at crypto—only to miss.
Federal judge torches SEC's $125M XRP sales penalty bid
The ruling marks a brutal setback for the SEC's crusade against Ripple, with the court outright rejecting the agency's interpretation of securities law. No warm fuzzies for Gary Gensler today.
Ripple escapes worst-case scenario—for now
While the battle's not over, the decision throws cold water on the SEC's favorite strongarm tactic: bankrupting targets with legal fees before proving its case. Cue the champagne corks in San Francisco.
The takeaway? Even $125 million in proposed fines couldn't buy the SEC a win this time. Maybe next year's budget will include 'better arguments' as a line item.
Judge denies yet another Ripple/SEC motion
The Ripple/SEC motion marks the second attempt before the court to bring a legal close to the long-running case.
In addition to the prohibition on XRP sales to institutional investors, Ripple and the SEC had asked the court to approve a settlement in which the SEC WOULD retain $50 million and return $75 million of the $125 million civil penalty. Notably, both parties also asked the court to pause their appeal of the final judgment pending the outcome of this motion.
In 2023, Judge Torres ruled that XRP sold on exchanges did not violate securities laws—meaning the cryptocurrency is not a security. However, she found that institutional sales did violate securities laws, leading to the injunction and civil penalty imposed in August 2024.
Ripple and the SEC appealed the ruling, with a settlement reached in March 2025 that could only proceed if the judge agreed to set aside her earlier decision.
Parties “have no authority”
Judge Torres rejected the latest motion, stating that it did not meet the “exceptional circumstances” required for a court to modify or vacate a final judgment. A similar motion filed on June 12, 2025, requesting an “indicative ruling,” also failed to persuade the court.
Arguments that the SEC has dismissed similar or related crypto cases also do not apply to the Ripple versus SEC case, as those other lawsuits did not go all the way to a final ruling.
“The parties do not have the authority to agree not to be bound by a court’s final judgment that a party violated an Act of Congress in such a manner that a permanent injunction and a civil penalty were necessary to prevent that party from violating the law again,” the judge wrote.
Under the ruling, Ripple and the SEC may now choose to either withdraw their appeal or proceed with it and challenge the injunction.
Stuart Alderoty, chief legal officer at Ripple, has said the company is yet to decide its next steps with regard to the matter.
“With this, the ball is back in our court. The Court gave us two options: dismiss our appeal challenging the finding on historic institutional sales—or press forward with the appeal. Stay tuned. Either way, XRP’s legal status as not a security remains unchanged,” he posted on X.
