The Long-Awaited Conclusion to the Settlements Phase of the Trial Passed with a Much Smaller Fine than the SEC Had Requested

U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) decided on a sum just a little over $125 million

A U.S. District Court Judge has ordered Ripple Labs to pay $125 million in disgorgements for XRP sales, a sum that is less than 10% of what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had requested.

The final judgment comes after a jury found last year that Ripple did not violate securities laws with XRP sales on public exchanges.

The regulator had sought $2 billion in disgorgements from the San Francisco-based crypto company, arguing that XRP sales helped fund Ripple's operations.

The court also ruled that XRP is not a security, a finding that the SEC can still appeal.

The smaller-than-expected fine is likely to boost XRP price further after a 24% rally on Thursday.

The asset may yet have room to rise further from the $0.60 level in August if it follows last year's course.

But this latest development could be more of a “sell the news” situation for Ripple after that initial 24% bump this week.

Meanwhile, here are five long-term supports for XRP markets that may be worth considering for Web3 investors and altcoin traders:

1. U.S. Whittles $2 Billion Ripple Fine to $125MM

To predict what kind of impact the recent SDNY ruling might have on Ripple, it may be worth comparing the market reaction to BNB’s settlement with the government last November.

BNB almost immediately rallied after a staggering $4 billion fine last November. Markets with high conviction in Binance’s business operations and future cash flows just shrugged it off.

It took Binance’s native token several more months to chart a new all-time high earlier this year.

Ripple’s $125 million ding is so comparatively paltry a fine it is comically validating to the legality and regularity of the company’s operations. Moreover, it may lure more cautious investors in the United States and globally to dip their toes in the XRP landscape.

Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote in a post on X that the roughly 94% reduction to the SEC’s requested fine amount recognized “that they had overplayed their hand.”

“This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law. The SEC’s headwinds against the whole of the XRP community are gone,” Ripple added.

2. Ripple ETF and Ripple IPO in 2025?

Garlinghouse says people should expect a Ripple IPO by 2025. The big win in court moves Ripple closer to that eventuality. The firm’s CEO also said a Ripple ETF is inevitable due to demand from regulated investors.

In a June interview on Fox Business, Garlinghouse stated:

“People don’t want exposure to just one commodity… To me, it only makes sense. You don’t want to have just a single-threaded asset exposure. I think people also forget that it wasn’t that long time ago (before the SEC got involved) that XRP was the second-most valuable digital asset.”

Way back in May 2022 in an interview with CNBC in Davos, Garlinghouse promised that Ripple will explore an IPO as soon as the SEC lawsuit ends. The SDNY court’s ruling on disbursements this August brings Ripple Labs and XRP bagholders closer to the end of that road.

Ripple Founder Chris Larsen wrote: “The SEC’s unhinged campaign against us is finally over. Let’s all hope this ends this Administration’s war on crypto.”

3. XRPL Extends Ripple Into DeFi Sector

Although many Web3 investors and altcoin day traders may consider XRP to be a CeFi token (centralized finance) because of the currency platform’s design, XRPL extends Ripple functionality to support decentralized currency issuance, the same as competitors like Ethereum and Solana.

In July, X crypto price analyst CryptoGeek wrote, “The XRP Ledger is expected to manage $30 to $50 trillion by 2025, with transactions likely shifting to the CTF Token, the primary DeFi token on the #XRPL.”

4. Bullish XRP Whale Moves

Another strong signal of long-term support for the XRP price is the extent of whale activity.

After the judge in the SEC v. Ripple case cut down the latter’s speeding ticket by so much that it practically punished the agency instead, XRP whales made waves in the crypto markets— with holdings between 1 million and 10 million coins rising to an all-time record high.

On Aug. 5, mere hours ahead of the Aug. 7 SEC v. Ripple decision, a whale holding some 23.4 million XRP valued at $10.4 million USD on Binance moved the stash to an unknown wallet.

Here’s a powerful statement from blockchain data company Santiment on elevated XRP whale and DeFi activity in July:

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