XRP News Today: Judge Invalidates Ripple SEC Settlement, Extending Legal Battle

Federal judge Analisa Torres recently invalidated the proposed settlement between Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which had agreed to a $50 million fine. The judge ruled that the parties lacked the authority to agree not to be bound by a court’s final judgment, thereby prolonging the legal saga surrounding Ripple Labs and its cryptocurrency, XRP.

Ripple Labs has been navigating regulatory challenges, particularly during the Biden administration, when oversight and regulatory agencies aggressively targeted crypto projects. However, under President Trump's second term, the SEC has abandoned civil lawsuits against major crypto exchanges like Kraken, Coinbase, and Binance. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has also acknowledged the mainstreaming of the crypto sector, noting the problematic debanking faced by crypto companies. These developments have set a positive tone for the potential Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Ripple Labs.

Crypto-advocate John Deaton, who has been involved in the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, suggests that an IPO for Ripple Labs could lead to a valuation exceeding $100 billion. However, the path to such an IPO is fraught with legal hurdles, primarily stemming from the ongoing lawsuit with the SEC.

The lawsuit against Ripple Labs began in December 2020, shortly after Joe Biden's presidential victory, with the SEC alleging that Ripple engaged in an unregistered securities offering by selling $1.3 billion worth of XRP tokens. In 2023, judge Torres ruled that only institutional XRP sales, amounting to around $728 million, fell under securities offering. Ripple was subsequently fined $125 million, which it appealed. In January 2025, the SEC filed an appeal to overturn the 2023 ruling, and by May 2025, Ripple and the SEC reached an agreement for a reduced $50 million fine, dropping their respective appeals. However, judge Torres' recent ruling has nullified this settlement, extending the legal battle.

XRP, one of the oldest cryptocurrencies, was first proposed by Canadian developer Ryan Fugger in 2004 as RipplePay, a decentralized monetary system. Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen later built upon this concept, leading to the development of the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) in 2012 and the eventual rebranding to Ripple in 2015. XRP serves as the native currency of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), facilitating cross-border transfers with negligible fees and 24/7 availability. RippleNet, the company's blockchain solution, includes products like xCurrent for real-time gross settlement, XVia for API integration, and xRapid for On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), which uses XRP as a bridge currency.

While financial institutions can use RippleNet without holding XRP, the use of xRapid does require XRP holdings. Ripple claims that xRapid's ODL can reduce transaction costs by up to 60% compared to existing banking protocols, offering near-instant settlement. However, full integration into xRapid requires greater regulatory clarity and resolution of the ongoing lawsuit.

The stablecoin ecosystem has also gained traction, with regulated stablecoins serving as tokenized dollars and benefiting the Federal Reserve through demand for U.S. Treasuries. Ripple launched its RLUSD stablecoin on both XRP Ledger and Ethereum in late 2024, currently holding a market cap of $440.9 million. This, combined with xRapid's ODL, positions Ripple as a viable publicly traded company, although it still lags behind publicly traded Circle and privately held Tether in terms of market presence.

Despite the legal challenges, XRP remains a more viable speculative asset compared to memecoins, having experienced multiple price swings this year but is down nearly 10% year-to-date. The resolution of Ripple's legal affairs will be crucial in determining its future as a publicly traded company and the potential valuation of its XRP token.