Ripple’s long-running legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed this year, and a previously dismissed element of the saga — the so-called XRP Army — is getting credit for helping shape the outcome.
Crypto attorney John Deaton filed an amicus brief on behalf of XRP holders and submitted evidence the judge cited when deciding that many exchange-based XRP sales were not securities. Judge Analisa Torres referenced Deaton’s filings, holder affidavits and arguments drawn from related litigation in her analysis, a point Deaton said proved the community’s contributions mattered.
Inside Ripple, executives describe the unpaid research and archival digging by retail holders as valuable to the company’s fair-notice defense. Ripple deputy general counsel Deborah McCrimmon told listeners the community unearthed speeches and government comments about crypto that helped the defense — material Ripple might otherwise have paid lawyers to compile.
The SEC first sued Ripple in 2020, alleging it raised funds through an unregistered securities sale. A pivotal July 2023 ruling found that XRP sold on exchanges generally did not qualify as securities, though certain institutional sales did. Both parties dropped appeals this August, formally ending the four-year dispute.
Markets reacted sharply during the litigation: XRP jumped roughly 72% after the 2023 decision, climbing from about $0.47 to $0.81, and later reached an intra-year high near $3.65. At the time of reporting XRP trades near $2.85, down around 1% on the day.
Why this matters: the case sets a precedent for how U.S. regulators treat secondary token sales and highlights that organized retail research can influence high-stakes regulatory outcomes. Risk note: legal decisions and regulatory uncertainty continue to drive price volatility and compliance risks — this is not investment advice.
Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.