XRP Surges by 10% After Ripple CEO Hints SEC Will Drop Appeal

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse ignited a 10% surge in XRP’s price on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, after announcing the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will likely drop its appeal against Ripple.

In a post on X, Garlinghouse declared: “This is it – the moment we’ve been waiting for. The SEC will drop its appeal.” He hailed the anticipated outcome as “a resounding victory for Ripple, for crypto, every way you look at it.”

The Long Battle Between SEC and Ripple (XRP)

The long legal battle between Ripple and the SEC may be coming to an end. The conflict began in 2020 when the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, alleging that the company had raised $1.3 billion through unregistered securities sales of XRP tokens.

In 2023, U.S. Judge Analisa Torres ruled that Ripple had indeed violated federal securities laws through institutional sales, but programmatic sales to retail exchanges were exempt.

This decision was seen as a partial victory for Ripple, which was subsequently fined $125 million in August. Nevertheless, the SEC filed a notice of appeal following the decision, prolonging the lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed against Ripple by SEC, which the CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the “first major shot fired in the war on crypto,” has been a long and costly battle, resulting in $15 billion in losses for XRP holders.
Unlike previous cases, which ended quickly, this lawsuit has been a prominent action against the crypto industry.

SEC’s Case Dropping Trend

The Commission after the departure of the former SEC Chair Gary Gensler dropped several cases, including its investigation into Coinbase. With Trump’s nomination of Paul Atkins as the next SEC chair, the crypto industry is watching closely to see how the case will unfold.

A favorable outcome in the Ripple lawsuit could have a ripple effect, potentially opening the door for the approval of an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the SEC. A lot of prominent issuers, including Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton, have already submitted filings for an XRP ETF, paving the way for a potential launch.