SEC Lawsuit Timeline
The full chronological sequence of filings, rulings, and the eventual resolution of SEC v. Ripple Labs.
December 2020 — Filing
The SEC files suit against Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging over $1.3 billion in unregistered XRP sales dating back to 2013. Several major U.S. exchanges suspend or restrict XRP trading in the following weeks, and XRP's price falls sharply amid the uncertainty.
2021–2022 — Discovery and pretrial motions
Both sides spend roughly two years in discovery and pretrial motion practice. Notable disputes during this period include fights over access to internal SEC communications (including the "Hinman speech" documents — notes related to a 2018 speech by then-SEC official William Hinman suggesting Ether was not a security, which Ripple argued were relevant to fair-notice arguments about the SEC's own internal thinking).
July 13, 2023 — Summary judgment ruling
Judge Analisa Torres issues a summary judgment ruling that distinguishes between different categories of XRP sales:
- Direct institutional sales to sophisticated investors under written contracts — found to be unregistered securities offerings.
- Programmatic sales on public exchanges, where buyers couldn't know they were buying from Ripple — found not to be securities transactions.
- Other distributions (such as XRP used to pay employees or for other non-sale purposes) — also found not to be securities transactions in this context.
See The Torres Ruling Explained for the reasoning behind this split. Several major U.S. exchanges relist or restore XRP trading shortly after this ruling.
Late 2023 — Interlocutory appeal denied
The SEC seeks to immediately appeal part of the ruling before the case concludes; the court declines to certify an interlocutory appeal, meaning the case continues toward final resolution at the trial court level first.
August 2024 — Final judgment and penalty
Judge Torres issues a final judgment on remedies, imposing a $125 million civil penalty on Ripple related to the institutional sales found to violate securities law — substantially less than the roughly $2 billion the SEC had originally sought, and widely described in the press as a significant practical win for Ripple relative to the SEC's initial demands.
Late 2024 — Cross-appeals filed
Both the SEC and Ripple file notices of appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals — the SEC appealing the programmatic-sales portion of the ruling, and Ripple cross-appealing the institutional-sales finding and penalty.
2025 — Appeals dropped, case resolved
Both parties ultimately withdraw their respective appeals, allowing the district court's rulings to stand as the final word in the case and bringing the litigation to a close after roughly five years.
Aftermath
The case is widely regarded as one of the most significant pieces of crypto case law in the United States to date, frequently cited in discussions of how other token issuers and exchanges might expect programmatic, exchange-based sales of a token to be treated differently from direct, contract-based institutional sales.