Judge Approves Ripple Request To Stay $125 Million SEC Penalty, Company Signals No Appeal Plans

Updated: 05 September 2024

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A New York District Judge approved a request by Ripple Labs to pause the $125 million penalty imposed in the company’s ongoing lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The order, signed by Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York, grants both Ripple and the SEC additional time to appeal the recent ruling.

Despite the pause, Ripple executives, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse, have indicated they have no plans to appeal the decision. Garlinghouse hailed the ruling as a “victory for Ripple,” while the company’s legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, confirmed that Ripple would “respect the $125 million fine.”

The stay in the Ripple SEC case will last for 30 days after the time the appeal expires or the resolution of any appeal in the case.

The SEC asked for $2B, and the Court reduced their demand by ~94% recognizing that they had overplayed their hand. We respect the Court’s decision and have clarity to continue growing our company.

This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law. The SEC’s…

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 7, 2024

However, former SEC lawyers have suggested that the company file a cross-appeal. If the fintech does not do this, the ex-SEC lawyers say that Ripple will admitting that it owes $125 million.

Ripple Moves Forward With Stablecoin Plans

Amid the ongoing legal case with the SEC, Ripple continues to add to its product offerings. During a fireside chat at Korea Blockchain Week, Garlinghouse said that the company’s stablecoin is weeks away from going live. The token will be USD-pegged and will trade under the ticker RLUSD.

In the past few weeks, the stablecoin has been in a private beta testing phase. The token is scheduled to be deployed on the Ethereum blockchain and Ripple’s XRP Ledger, which is the company’s institution-focused product. RLUSD will also follow the widely-adopted ERC-20 token standard, making it compatible with a vast number of DeFi protocols.

With new programmability in the works for the XRP Ledger (something the XRP community has rightly been asking for) and the growing opportunity for Ripple’s enterprise products to serve crypto-native customers (such as @futureverse using Ripple Custody) – the foundations of crypto… https://t.co/ZLQXl0BcOD

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) September 3, 2024

This stablecoin is not the only new development, as the company has added EVM-compatibility to the XRP Ledger as well. This will enable developers to deploy their own tokens on the ledger as well as build on-chain exchange platforms and other DeFi products.