XRP News Today: Community Power Shifts Legal Tides for Ripple in SEC Showdown

Ripple’s legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a definitive conclusion, reshaping the regulatory landscape for digital assets and reinforcing the role of community-driven efforts in legal outcomes. In a landmark ruling, Judge Analisa Torres in July 2023 determined that XRP sold on exchanges did not qualify as a security, though some institutional sales did. The ruling marked a pivotal win for Ripple, offering clarity on the application of securities law to secondary crypto token sales [1]. By August 2025, both sides dropped appeals, officially closing the four-year dispute [1].

The outcome was significantly influenced by the contributions of the XRP Army, a group of active XRP holders and advocates. Legal experts, including crypto lawyer John Deaton, credited the XRP Army for providing critical research and testimonies that shaped the case. Judge Torres cited Deaton’s filings, XRP holder affidavits, and arguments from a related LBRY case in her decision [1]. Ripple executives acknowledged the XRP Army’s role in compiling publicly available regulatory data that the company could not have obtained through traditional legal avenues [1]. This community effort underscored the potential impact of decentralized networks in legal and regulatory outcomes.

The market reacted to the legal developments with significant volatility. XRP surged 72% in the aftermath of the 2023 ruling, jumping from $0.47 to $0.81, and later reaching an all-time high of $3.65 in July 2024 before settling to around $2.85 as of early September 2025 [1]. While the XRP Army's influence was evident, the token’s price movements also reflected broader market sentiment and regulatory uncertainty. Analysts noted that Ripple’s legal battle had served as a barometer for how courts and regulators would interpret the boundaries of securities law in the digital asset space [1].

Simultaneously, Ripple is expanding its global influence through strategic partnerships. The company recently announced an expanded collaboration with Thunes, a global payment infrastructure provider, to enhance cross-border transactions. By integrating Thunes’s Direct Global Network with Ripple’s blockchain-based solutions, the partnership aims to improve payment speed, compliance, and accessibility across 130+ countries and 80+ currencies [2]. Ripple Payments, which supports over $70 billion in annual volume, will further integrate with Thunes’s SmartX Treasury System to streamline fund withdrawals and expand Ripple’s enterprise capabilities [2]. This partnership underscores Ripple’s broader mission to bridge traditional finance and digital assets through scalable, compliant infrastructure [2].

The strategic shift has not gone unnoticed by traditional financial institutions. SWIFT, the longstanding leader in cross-border payments, has initiated blockchain trials, including tests with the XRP Ledger, as part of its exploration of next-generation settlement systems. SWIFT’s Chief Innovation Officer, Tom Zschach, recently expressed skepticism about Ripple’s long-term viability, calling it a “dead chain walking” due to its legal entanglements and centralized governance [5]. Zschach emphasized that traditional institutions prefer neutral, shared governance models over solutions controlled by a single entity [5].

Despite these criticisms, Ripple continues to innovate. Recent upgrades to the XRP Ledger include Automated Market Makers (AMMs), a stablecoin (RLUSD), and an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain to improve compatibility with Ethereum-based applications. These enhancements aim to attract developers and enterprises to build on the XRP Ledger, though the network still lags behind Ethereum and Solana in terms of total value locked (TVL) and decentralized exchange volumes [5]. The long-term success of Ripple’s efforts will depend on its ability to attract meaningful on-chain activity and institutional participation, according to industry observers [5].

Source:

[1] Ripple-SEC News: 'XRP Army' Credited by Lawyers in ... (https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/09/04/xrp-army-credited-with-helping-ripple-tilt-case-against-sec)

[2] Thunes and Ripple Expand Global Partnership to ... (https://www.thunes.com/news/thunes-and-ripple-expand-global-partnership-to-transform-cross-border-payments/)

[3] Thunes and Ripple Expand Global Partnership to ... (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thunes-and-ripple-expand-global-partnership-to-transform-cross-border-payments-302543568.html)

[4] Ripple, Thunes Join Forces on Cross-Border Push (https://www.pymnts.com/partnerships/2025/thunes-and-ripple-team-to-bolster-cross-border-payments/)

[5] Now That XRP is Dead, What's Next? Swift Executive Calls ... (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/now-xrp-dead-next-swift-105438346.html)