Ripple and SEC Strike a $125M Deal: A Game-Changing Settlement?

Hold onto Your Hats: A Major Crypto Battle Might Just End!

Get ready for a seismic shift in the crypto world! Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have just dropped a bombshell proposal to split a whopping $125 million civil penalty. This could be the nail in the coffin for one of the longest, most intense legal slugfests in crypto history.

According to a June 12 court filing that set the crypto community ablaze, both sides are begging a Manhattan federal court to tear up an old injunction and free up that $125 million sitting in escrow. Here's the juicy part: $50 million would go straight to the SEC's coffers, while Ripple gets to pocket the remaining $75 million. Cha-ching!

🚨NEW: The SEC and Ripple have thrown down the gauntlet, asking a Manhattan District court to rip up the injunction in their epic legal showdown and release the $125 million civil penalty from escrow. They're proposing a cool $50 million to the SEC, with the rest going back to Ripple. Buckle up, folks!

From Legal Nightmare to Potential Peace Treaty

This bombshell settlement comes after a wild legal rollercoaster that kicked off in 2020 when the SEC sued Ripple Labs for allegedly peddling unregistered securities through those institutional XRP sales.

Fast forward to July 2023, and a federal judge threw us a curveball, ruling that Ripple's programmatic XRP sales were A-OK, but they were still on the hook for those institutional sales. The judge slapped them with a $125 million penalty in August 2024, which was parked in escrow during Ripple's appeal.

Then, in April 2025, the SEC and Ripple decided to hit the brakes on their appeals to hash out a possible settlement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gave them the green light, but their first attempt to settle in May 2025 got shot down. The court said they needed to show "exceptional circumstances" to get that deal done. Now, the June 12 filing is their latest, greatest shot at meeting those demands.

A New SEC, A New Approach

This legal twist comes as the SEC, now led by the fresh face of Paul Atkins, has been dialing back its hardcore crypto enforcement strategy since early 2025. They've been pulling the plug on some high-profile crypto crackdowns and shifting gears towards more rulemaking than courtroom battles.

If the court signs off on this deal, both Ripple and the SEC would yank their appeals, slamming the door on this case for good. But hold your breath—the judge still needs to decide if the stars have aligned to modify that original judgment and dissolve the injunction.

If this settlement gets the green light, it'll be a landmark compromise in a case that's been the talk of the town and has reshaped how U.S. law sees digital assets. But if it's a no-go, brace yourselves for more legal fireworks, with the case potentially dragging on past Q2.