Ripple and XRP - The Case is Closed

And just like that, it was confirmed yesterday that the Ripple v SEC case was over. The pain of regulatory overreach by a rogue agency is over. After what seemed an eternity of SEC announcements regarding the dropping of cases against other companies and projects, Ripple and the XRP Community have finally had their day.

It was tweeted by Ripple’s General Counsel & Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty yesterday,

“The final crossing of t’s and dotting of i’s – and what should be my last update on SEC v Ripple ever…

Last week, the SEC agreed to drop its appeal without conditions.

Ripple has now agreed to drop its cross-appeal. The SEC will keep $50M of the $125M fine (already in an interest-bearing escrow in cash), with the balance returned to Ripple. The agency will also ask the Court to lift the standard injunction that was imposed earlier at the SEC’s request. All are subject to Commission vote, drafting of final documents and usual court processes.”

It would seem as though Ripple were in the backrooms negotiating hard for better terms to finalise the case. This delay caused some frustration for XRP investors amidst what seemed an avalanche of other crypto-related cases and investigations being dropped by the now “crypto-friendly” Trump-era SEC.

Although $50 million would seem a huge penalty payment, in the grand scheme of things it would be more of a speeding fine for the multi-billion-dollar valued Ripple Company, or potentially more of a “Pay to Play” scenario. Ripple isn’t the first major company to be sued by the SEC and gone on to greater adaption and success; think Amazon and Tesla.

The fact that the SEC effectively gave back $75 million of the Judge's determined $125 million fine is astonishing. When have you ever heard of a government agency ever doing that, let alone the SEC which has been previously known for its shakedown tactics.

Looking deeper into the tweet by Alderoty, “The agency will also ask the Court to lift the standard injunction…” has a significant bearing on how Ripple can move forward targeting institutional businesses and accredited investors.

CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently said (and I paraphrase) that due to the the hostile USA regulatory crypto environment, 95% of their business was conducted offshore over the past number of years, however, following the Trump election victory, they have been signing multiple US deals.

In bringing this all together, a new era for Ripple and XRP adaption is nigh. Institutions will be able to use the full power of the XRPL, its inbuilt Decentralized Exchange (DEX), the on-demand liquidity solution proposed by Ripple and the XRP token, not to mention the new RLUSD stablecoin and its potential to run over the XRPL RippleNet rails built by Ripple over the past 12 years.

The work didn’t stop globally, it just paused in the USA. Now, the huge cog of the world financial markets which is the US Financial Market, is able to be engaged in cross-border money flows, decentralized finance (DeFi) and tokenization.

As a side note, the crypto market is an approximate 3 trillion-dollar industry. Cross border payments through the antiquated SWIFT system are $150 trillion per year. Derivative markets are over 2 quadrillion in settlement. Crypto companies and blockchain projects that can streamline these industries with cost and time savings are set to benefit.

Let’s not forget the 17 ETF applications for XRP-related products by around a dozen or so financial houses such as Franklin Templeton, Van Eck and Greyscale. (Question: When will Blackrock join the party?)

There was a time back in 2016-2017 where the crypto community might get 1 or 2 filings for a BTC ETF per year, only to be squashed by the SEC. There has been 17 XRP ETF filings within the first quarter of the year!

Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek is optimistic about the potential of XRP ETFs, predicting they could see massive inflows if approved. In a viral video, he suggested altcoin ETFs, including XRP, might even outperform existing ones like Ethereum. Citing projections, he noted an XRP ETF could attract $8 billion in its first year, emphasizing the significant market impact such a product could have.