U.S. court keeps the Ripple fight alive

A court in New York rejected the joint request from the U.S. securities regulator SEC and Ripple Labs to settle their years-long legal fight.

A New York court has rejected the joint request from the U.S. securities regulator SEC and Ripple Labs to settle their years-long legal fight. That leaves the case open for now, much to the frustration of both Ripple and the crypto community.

Just a week ago, the two parties announced a formal agreement. Ripple would pay only $50 million of the original $125 million fine, while the SEC would drop its appeal against the 2023 ruling. But Judge Analisa Torres, who previously ruled that XRP is not a security in retail investor trading, has now thrown a wrench in that plan.

In her ruling, Torres notes that the appeals court is still working on the case. She also said Ripple and the SEC had to present ``exceptional grounds'' to formally alter their prior positions — something she says they failed to do. Additionally, the request would have been filed incorrectly on a legal-technical level.

Fox journalist Eleanor Terrett View post on X on X (formerly Twitter): “After talking with three legal sources and following the live analysis, I conclude Judge Torres is standing firm. She won’t let the parties walk away easily — they have to fight this out to the end.”

Still, Terrett sees a workable path: “There is a viable path visible, provided the SEC and Ripple meet the legal requirements and convincingly show that withdrawing the earlier decisions serves the public interest and institutional XRP investors.”

Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty View post on Xsaid the ruling changes nothing about their previous wins (such as XRP not being a security). “It’s purely about procedural objections around withdrawing our counter-appeal. Ripple and the SEC are fully focused on a joint solution and will discuss this again with the court.”

The market reacted negatively in the meantime. The XRP price fell about four percent on the news and was trading at $2.41 at the time of writing.