Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the case brought against the company by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be dropped. In a statement on social media, Garlinghouse expressed, “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. The SEC will withdraw their appeal, Ripple, crypto, and a major victory from all angles. The future is bright. Let’s build.” Garlinghouse highlighted that the lawsuit filed by the SEC against Ripple more than four years ago has finally come to an end, referring to the case against Ripple as the “first major move in the battle against crypto.” Garlinghouse expressed his belief back then that Ripple was not only legally right but also on the right side of history. Under the leadership of Gary Gensler, the SEC used the same arguments against Ripple to take action against the entire sector, with a goal of intimidating rather than protecting investors, according to Garlinghouse. Mentioning the $15 billion loss for XRP, Garlinghouse accused the SEC of being a “market manipulator.” Garlinghouse stated, “The SEC wasn’t seeking justice. They were trying to win the case at all costs.” In December 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple and its executives, alleging that they conducted an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP released in 2012 worth $1.3 billion. Ripple claimed that XRP, a token developed to facilitate cross-border payments, is not a security. In July 2023, the SEC’s lawsuit against the cryptocurrency XRP ended in favor of Ripple. Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District Court of New York ruled that Ripple did not violate federal securities laws by selling the cryptocurrency XRP on exchanges. Torres later rejected the SEC’s request to appeal this decision. The SEC took this decision to appeal last year.