Reuters: Ripple to pay lowered $50 million SEC fine

Ripple Labs has reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve a civil lawsuit alleging the sale of unregistered securities. According to Reuters, the company will pay just $50 million of a previously imposed $125 million penalty.

The settlement concludes one of the SEC's most prominent enforcement actions in the cryptocurrency sector since the agency scaled back its regulatory oversight of the industry, the agency notes.

Ripple's Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty stated that the proposed settlement remains subject to approval by both the SEC commissioners and US District Judge Analisa Torres before taking effect.

Last week, the SEC formally dropped its appeal of Judge Torres' July 2023 ruling, which determined that Ripple's XRP token transactions on public exchanges did not constitute securities offerings under the law.

Ripple had previously appealed a separate portion of Torres' decision. That part held that the company's $728 million in direct XRP sales to institutional investors did constitute unregistered securities transactions. However, Alderoty confirmed the company will now withdraw this appeal.