SEC vs. Ripple nears conclusion as XRP-ETH comparison takes center stage: report

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The Block2025/03/12 16:00

By:By Jason Shubnell

Quick Take The SEC believes ether trades as a pure commodity, Fox Business reports, and the agency is trying to determine if the commission can make that case with XRP.

SEC vs. Ripple nears conclusion as XRP-ETH comparison takes center stage: report image 0

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's five-year-long lawsuit against Ripple Labs could be over soon, Fox Business reported Thursday. One final issue being discussed is a comparison with Ethereum. At issue is whether XRP continues to trade and have a utility that makes it more of a commodity than a security.

"I am told the @ethereum example is key," Fox's senior correspondent Charles Gasparino wrote Thursday in a post on X. "$ETH was obviously issued as an ICO; its characteristics on issuance was no different than $XRP--both used to finance the buildout of a platform, yet Ripple got sued and Ethereum didn't because $ETH had since morphed into a commodity."

The SEC views ether as trading as a pure commodity, Gasparino said, and the agency is trying to determine if the commission can make that case with XRP.

Late Wednesday, Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett said the SEC vs. Ripple could be wrapping up soon.

"My understanding is that the delay in reaching an agreement is due to Ripple's legal team negotiating more favorable terms regarding the August district court ruling, which imposed a $125M fine on the company and included a permanent injunction preventing the company from selling $XRP to institutional investors," Terrett wrote on X. "The argument, I’m told, is that if the new SEC leadership is wiping the enforcement slate clean for all previously-targeted crypto firms because it believes regulatory clarity will resolve the underlying issue, why should Ripple still be penalized?"

If Ripple accepts the Torres ruling as is, it would be akin to admitting wrongdoing — yet even the SEC now appears uncertain if any violation took place, Terrett said. With no clear precedent for a situation like this, the case is taking longer to resolve than others.

Ripple vs. SEC

In December 2020, the SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, which it said was an unregistered security.

Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in July 2023 that Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP did not violate securities laws due to the use of a blind bid process. However, she determined that direct XRP sales to institutional investors qualified as securities. Later that August, she ordered Ripple to pay $125 million in fines.

In December 2024, U.S. President Donald Trump tapped long-time crypto supporter Paul Atkins to lead the SEC following Gary Gensler's resignation. However, Atkins has yet to face confirmation hearings. In the meantime, the agency has rescinded controversial crypto accounting guidance and dropped cases against Coinbase , OpenSea , Robinhood and UniSwap .

Of note is that a crypto task force led by Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce launched last month and has been working on distinguishing which crypto assets are securities, among other priorities.

Earlier this week, Franklin Templeton became the largest asset manager yet to file for a spot XRP ETF . Under the Trump administration, crypto-friendly policies have fueled a surge in ETF filings beyond bitcoin and ether.

The price of XRP is up 1% over the past 24 hours to $2.25, according to The Block's XRP price data .

Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

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