XRP Astronomical Flight To New Highs Well Underway As Ripple CEO Announces SEC Case ‘Has Ended’

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in a new video shared on his X account Wednesday that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will dismiss its appeal in the enforcement case it’s been pursuing against the blockchain company for over four years.

Along with the palpable movement demonstrated by the XRP token pumping on the news, the overall sentiment across the crypto community appears to be one of jubilation. 

“Long Overdue Surrender From The SEC”

The announcement shared on X by Ripple’s Garlinghouse, reads, “This is it — the moment we’ve been waiting for. The SEC will drop its appeal — a resounding victory for Ripple, for crypto, every way you look at it. The future is bright. Let’s build.”

“As many of you know,  just over four years ago, the United States SEC filed its lawsuit against Ripple. I’m finally able to announce that the case has ended; it’s over,” Garlinghouse said in the attached video to the X post. “Today is a victory and [a] long overdue surrender from the SEC.”

The case against Ripple has been going on since 2020, wherein the SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, which it claimed was an unregistered security. Then in July 2023, District Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Ripple’s programmatic sales did not break securities laws. However, she found that the company’s direct XRP sales to institutional investors qualified as securities. The SEC filed an appeal seeking to have that decision overturned.

Following Garlinghouse’s announcement, XRP, the coin closely associated with Ripple’s business activities, saw an immediate surge in price, hitting local highs of $2.57. At press time, XRP was up 13.8% on a 24-hour basis, making a 17.9% rise weekly. The Ripple-affiliated coin is currently the third largest crypto asset by market capitalization, at $148.2 billion.

The End Of The War On Crypto

“It seems very clear to me that this case was doomed from the start,” the Ripple CEO added. ‘In so many ways, it was the first major shot fired in the war on crypto.”

A federal New York court handed a $125 million fine against Ripple for XRP sales to institutions last August. The fine was drastically lower than the SEC’s $2 billion request.

Garlinghouse voiced confidence that Ripple’s legal win sends an “ominous sign for innovation around cryptocurrency in the United States” following years of “intimidation and terror” from Gary Gensler-led SEC.

The end of this lawsuit also increases the likelihood of a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) hitting the U.S. market. Several would-be issuers, including Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton, have filed for such a vehicle in previous months with ETF experts at Bloomberg previously placing odds for a greenlight at 65% for the end of this year. 

Meanwhile, XRP was among the cryptocurrencies Trump indicated would be part of a strategic U.S. crypto reserve.