SEC, Ripple file motion to release $125M in escrow as case winds down

So, after nearly five years of going back and forth in court, Ripple and the SEC are finally moving to wrap up their big legal battle. They just filed a joint motion asking the court to release $125 million that’s been stuck in escrow since the case started.

Here’s the deal: out of that $125 million, $50 million would go to the SEC as a civil penalty, and the remaining $75 million would be returned to Ripple — but this all still needs the judge’s approval.

This move is pretty significant because it signals both sides want to avoid dragging the case out any longer with more appeals or courtroom drama. The lawsuit originally kicked off in 2020, with the SEC accusing Ripple of selling $1.3 billion worth of XRP tokens without registering them as securities. But in 2023, a judge ruled that XRP’s secondary market sales aren’t securities, which was a big win for Ripple and the crypto industry.

Since then, the case has been winding down, and this joint motion is basically the final step to settle everything officially. The SEC had even appealed the ruling but dropped it earlier this year, and Ripple agreed to drop its cross-appeal too.

If the judge signs off, this will close the book on one of the most important crypto legal cases in the US, giving Ripple a clearer path forward and hopefully more regulatory clarity for the whole industry. Meanwhile, XRP’s price has been holding steady, and this resolution could help boost confidence even more.

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