Ripple-SEC Settlement Slashes $125M Penalty To $50M, XRP Soars

Ripple Labs has reached a deal with the SEC to reduce its penalty to $50 million, significantly lower than the $125 million previously imposed and a small fraction of the $2 billion the agency initially sought.

Ripple’s native token XRP (XRP) rallied after the announcement, buoyed by the broader strength of the cryptocurrency market on Friday as Bitcoin’s (BTC) price neared $104,000.

XRP’s price has surged 8% in the past 24 hours to a two-month high of $2.4, according to CoinGecko.

According to the settlement filed in New York on Thursday, the SEC and Ripple Labs have requested that the district court issue an indicative ruling as to whether it would dissolve the previous order. This would release the $125 million held in escrow, with $50 million going to the SEC and the remainder back to Ripple Labs.

The order also explained that the SEC decided to exercise its discretion to seek a resolution that would “facilitate the Commission’s ongoing efforts to reform and renew its regulatory approach to the crypto industry.”

After U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January and appointed Paul Atkins as the SEC’s new chairman, the organization has been pulling back from various crypto investigations and litigation that began under former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s leadership. 

The cryptocurrency market rallied during U.S. pre-market hours on Friday as tariff tensions eased after the U.K. trade deal, and markets looked to the weekend talks between the U.S. and China. Ethereum’s native token (ETH) and its various staking derivatives – Lido Staked Ether (STETH) and Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) – were the biggest gainers, with more than a 19% gain in the past 24 hours. 

Solana (SOL) also saw double-digit gains of around 10%, while Cardano (ADA) jumped 12%.

The largest meme token by market capitalization, Dogecoin (DOGE), also rallied as much as 12%, while Pepe (PEPE) surged over 34%.

With XRP’s rally on Friday, the cryptocurrency has gained more than 34% over the past month and nearly 365% over the past year. 

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