Ripple makes it clear that the XRP judgment remains intact after the court rejected the application for opposing advisory
- Judge Torres rejected Ripple and SEC’s application due to procedural errors, but the decision to sell XRP to private customers remains unaffected.
- Ripple and the SEC have to submit the application again with an appropriate legal justification in order to revise the injunctive relief for institutional sales and reduce the penalty of USD $ 125.
The US district judge Analisa Torres has rejected a joint application by Ripple Labs and the US stock exchange supervisory authority (SEC) to change important conditions in her long-term legal dispute. The decision, which was published on May 15, 2025, rejected proposed changes that had lifted a permanent relief order for Ripple’s institutional XRP sale and reduced the company’s civil law punishment from $ 125 million to $ 50 million. Ripple has made it clear that the rejection of the judge has no influence on the court’s earlier decision that XRP sales to private customers do not represent securities transactions.
The rejected application was followed by an application of May 8, in which Ripple and the SEC had applied for an “indicative decision” by judge Torres. This type of application is used when a case is in the appeal, but both parties agree on a comparison and a confirmation requires that the judge is open to a change in the original judgment.
#XRPCommunity #SECGov v. #Ripple #XRP Judge Torres has denied the parties’ motion for an indicative ruling. “If jurisdiction were restored to this Court, the Court would deny the parties’ motion as procedurally improper.” pic.twitter.com/4s95ILvzsy
– James K. Filan
(@Filanlaw) May 15, 2025
However, judge Torres considered the application to be legally inadequate. In her disposal, she wrote that none of the parties were adequately involved in the high legal threshold that is required to cancel permanent injunctive relief, in particular one that was originally imposed after the institutional XRP sales of ripple violations violate securities laws. The court emphasized that such a change must prove that it matches the public interest, a load that was not fulfilled.
Legal experts have interpreted the rejection as the result of a faulty legal procedure and not as a rejection of the proposed comparison. Attorney Fred Rispoli noted that the parties had applied the wrong procedural rule and now had to “act in the hard, chaotic way” by submitting the application properly.
XRP individual trading classification remains unchanged
The rejection does not change the earlier decision by Richter Torres from July 2023. This judgment stated that XRP sales violate institutional investors against the securities laws, while the programmatic sales of XRP to private customers on stock exchanges do not. This distinction is obtained despite the rejection of the revised comparison application by the court.
Attorney John Deaton confirmed that the judgment on the XRP secondary sales remains. He explained that Ripple’s institutional customers include financial companies such as hedge funds and banks, but not general small investors.
LIVE NOW! Tune in as @Johnedeaton1 breaks down Judge Torres’ decision to deny the SEC/Ripple Motion for Settlement.
What it means and why it matters. https://t.co/PkkpgMSRuo
— CryptoLaw (@CryptoLawUS) May 16, 2025
The SEC strategy change has attracted attention. After the resignation of the former SEC chairman Gary Gensler, the authority has enclosed or de-escalated several sensational enforcement measures, including the Ripple case. The current leadership agreed to drop the appeal against the programmatic sales of XRP, while Ripple decided to include his counter-profession, which includes a fine of $ 150 million and permanent injunctive relief.
Former SEC lawyer Marc Fagel commented The decision of the authority with the remark that it is unusual that the SEC will change its attitude towards legal disputes after a court ruling. He noted that this sudden change of course, which was initiated under a new leadership, could have contributed to the fact that the court hesitated to approve the application without a clear reason.
Next steps in the Ripple case
Ripple and the SEC have to submit their application again using the correct legal framework. The court will request a comprehensive explanation of how the abolition of the injunction and reducing the fine serve the public interest, in particular in view of the previous judgment on institutional XRP sales.
Deaton assumes that Richter Torres, as soon as the procedural issues have been clarified, could allow the return of the case from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which would enable the final approval of the revised comparative conditions. Until then, the court proceedings continue.
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