Ripple’s CEO announced a halt to the lawsuit and said it was an “expected outcome”. According to Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of cryptocurrency issuer Ripple, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided not to proceed with further appeals against Ripple. Following this news, XRP, the cryptocurrency issued by Ripple, surged significantly on the 19th (local time).
Garlinghouse shared the news on social media, stating that this was the result he had anticipated about five years ago. He mentioned at a virtual asset summit in New York that “it has been almost 4 years and 3 months since the SEC first sued us, and it has been a painful process in many ways.” He expressed his belief that they were on the right side both legally and historically.
After the news of the SEC’s lawsuit cessation became known, XRP’s price increased sharply. On the 19th, XRP, which was around $2.30 in the afternoon, began to surge around 10:10 PM, reaching around $2.50. As of 10:27 AM on the 20th, XRP was over 10% higher than 24 hours prior, at $2.52, as per CoinGecko.
Recently, the SEC has been attempting to erase the footprint left by the previous administration on the cryptocurrency industry. Last month, the SEC ended legal actions against Coinbase and concluded investigations into Robinhood’s cryptocurrency division, Uniswap, Gemini, and ConsenSys without any major measures. The SEC also reduced its crypto-focused enforcement division and declared that meme coins are not securities.
The newly formed SEC cryptocurrency task force is expected to begin discussions focusing on defining the security status of virtual assets. In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for violating securities laws by selling XRP, which was not registered as a security. In 2023, the court partially sided with Ripple. At that time, the ruling was considered a significant victory in the crypto industry. However, the ruling indicated that while XRP is not considered a security in transactions with individual investors on exchanges, it is considered an unregistered security in transactions with institutional investors.
Ripple, which created XRP in 2012, utilizes it for cross-border payment services. About 95% of Ripple’s payment business occurs outside the United States, and Ripple is the largest holder of XRP coins. This coin saw over a 385% increase after the last U.S. presidential election and has increased by 18% this year.