U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission logo and representations of cryptocurrency are seen in this illustration taken June 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Ripple Labs said on Wednesday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ended its appeal from a court ruling that the regulator's prior chief had said would make it harder to oversee cryptocurrency markets.
The SEC had been appealing a July 2023 decision by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan that the XRP token sold by Ripple on public exchanges did not meet the legal definition of a security.
Torres also gave the SEC a partial victory against Ripple, saying $728 million of XRP sales to institutional investors should have complied with securities laws.
She fined Ripple $125 million last August, but put the fine on hold while Ripple appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. That appeal remains pending.
In a post on X, Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse called the end of the SEC appeal a "resounding victory" and "long overdue surrender" by the regulator.
Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty posted separately that "Ripple is now in the driver's seat and we'll evaluate how best to pursue our cross appeal. Regardless, today is a day to celebrate."
The SEC declined to comment.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump began his second White House term in January, the SEC has retreated on crypto oversight.
It ended civil lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, and said it may resolve its civil fraud case against Chinese entrepreneur Justin Sun, an adviser to a Trump-backed crypto project.
Trump, meanwhile, nominated Paul Atkins, a Washington lawyer seen as supportive of the crypto industry, to become SEC chair.
Atkins would replace Gary Gensler, who many in that industry reviled.
The SEC lawsuit accusing Ripple of offering unregistered securities began in December 2020, four weeks before Trump ended his first White House term.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New Yok and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Bill Berkrot)
