The long-running legal battle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs has officially and permanently concluded, with legal experts confirming the case cannot be reopened on its core issues. The lawsuit, which began in December 2020, reached its final procedural end on August 7, 2025, with the termination of all appeals.
Ripple has been ordered to pay a $125 million civil penalty, a figure upheld by the court after rejecting attempts to reduce the fine. This penalty relates specifically to Ripple's institutional sales of XRP between 2013 and 2020.
Australian lawyer Bill Morgan, closely following the case, explained that the legal doctrine of res judicata (claim preclusion) now permanently bars the SEC from relitigating the fundamental issues decided in the case. This includes the pivotal ruling by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in July 2023 that XRP itself is not an investment contract (security). Morgan noted the SEC's failure to appeal this specific finding during its partial appeal further solidified this conclusion.
The SEC's own litigation strategy contributed to this definitive outcome. By framing its lawsuit around the theory that XRP itself was a security and dividing Ripple's activities into categories (institutional sales, programmatic sales, other distributions), the court was forced to rule on XRP's inherent status. This "high-risk strategy" backfired, leading to a detailed judicial review that created binding legal determinations.
Morgan clarified that while the case on historical sales is closed, the SEC retains the ability to pursue claims related to XRP sales by Ripple after 2020. However, any new litigation would be severely limited by the issue preclusion from Judge Torres's ruling that XRP is not a security. The only conceivable way to revive the closed case would require a fundamental change in law, likely necessitating new legislation from Congress and presidential consent.
This finality comes amid criticism from U.S. House Democrats directed at SEC Chair Paul Atkins for abandoning several crypto enforcement actions, including the Ripple case. Morgan responded that legally closed cases cannot be reactivated after a final judgment.
