In a significant turn of events for Ripple Labs, the price of XRP surged by 27% in just one hour on Wednesday, reaching a one-week high of $0.6406. This rally followed a ruling by Judge Analisa Torres, who ruled that Ripple must pay only $125 million of the $2 billion fine originally sought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The decision marked a notable milestone after a four-year legal dispute involving the blockchain payments company.
The court’s decision clarified key aspects of Ripple’s operations. It concluded that the company’s institutional sales were indeed investment contracts but distinguished these from Ripple’s Programmatic Sales and Other Distributions, which were found not to be classified as such. Furthermore, individual sales by Ripple’s co-founders, Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, were also deemed not to qualify as investment contracts based on similar reasoning applied to Ripple’s Programmatic Sales.
The judge reasoned that a first-tier penalty was appropriate due to the absence of any allegations of fraud or misconduct on Ripple’s part. Notably, the SEC failed to demonstrate that Ripple’s lack of registration for its institutional sales led to substantial investor losses or risks. As a result, the court granted some of the SEC’s requests while denying others, ultimately instituting an injunction against Ripple to avert future breaches of securities law and enforcing a civil penalty of $125,035,150.
With the court’s classification of XRP as non-security, the cryptocurrency experienced one of its most remarkable rallies this year, recovering from previous losses attributed to global economic uncertainties. Analysts are now speculating on the potential for XRP to experience a major price surge, with some suggesting targets ranging from $4 to $8 in the coming cycle. The overall sentiment in the market reflects newfound optimism surrounding XRP , setting the stage for what could be a significant bullish run.
