Ripple will drop its cross-appeal in its prolonged legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling an end to one of the crypto industry’s most consequential court cases.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the move on social media on June 27 and also revealed that the SEC is expected to drop its appeal as well.

He wrote:

“We’re closing this chapter once and for all, and focusing on what’s most important – building the Internet of Value.”

The decision follows Judge Analisa Torres’ denial of a joint motion for an indicative ruling earlier this week, marking the second time she dismissed the appeal.

Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, explained that the court’s proffered options were to either dismiss its appeal challenging the prior finding on historic institutional sales of XRP or proceed with the appeal and continue litigation.

The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, alleging it conducted an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP tokens to institutional investors. In July 2023, Judge Torres ruled that while XRP itself is not a security and secondary market sales do not violate securities laws, Ripple’s direct sales to institutional investors did constitute unregistered securities offerings.

The ruling was considered a landmark split decision, with Ripple securing a major victory for the industry in clarifying that programmatic sales and secondary market trading of XRP do not fall under SEC jurisdiction. However, the finding on institutional sales posed potential financial penalties for Ripple.

The SEC initially signaled an intent to appeal the ruling on XRP’s non-security status but later indicated it would drop that appeal. Ripple’s decision to abandon its cross-appeal effectively ends the litigation over the institutional sales ruling, avoiding further legal expenses and uncertainty.

The outcome preserves XRP’s legal clarity in the U.S. market while finalizing the company’s settlement exposure. Ripple is expected to pay a civil penalty related to institutional sales, though the final amount is yet to be determined.

With both appeals set to be withdrawn, the case closes a chapter that has defined crypto’s regulatory landscape for nearly five years. Ripple now plans to shift its focus back to expanding global payment corridors, token utility, and adoption of its XRP Ledger as it advances its vision for an Internet of Value.

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Financial services giant Goldman Sachs is reportedly predicting that the S&P 500 (SPX) will hit a new all-time high over the next 12 months amid improving market conditions.

In an investment note, analysts at Goldman raise their one-year target for the S&P 500 from 6,200 to a new record high of 6,500, reports Bloomberg.

According to a team led by chief US equity strategist David Kostin, the stock market index will rally about 11% from current levels after the White House announced an initial trade deal with China that massively reduces tariffs on both sides.

Says Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent,

“We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially moved down the tariff levels — both sides, on the reciprocal tariffs, will move their tariffs down 115%.”

Goldman notes that the agreement between the two economic powerhouses has allayed recession risks and market uncertainty.

While Kostin’s team remains bullish on the stock market over the long term, Goldman strategists believe the recent S&P 500 rally may soon lose steam after hitting their three-month target of 5,900 on Monday. They remain cautious in the near term, warning that current conditions do not support a sustained market rebound.

“Already-optimistic market pricing of the economic growth outlook as well as uncertainty surrounding the magnitude of impending slowdown in economic and earnings growth will likely keep a ceiling on equity multiples during the next few months.”

As of Tuesday’s close, the S&P 500 is trading at 5,886.

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A cryptocurrency exchange reached an agreement with cybercriminals who hacked into millions, marking increased security issues in the digital currency industry.

Loopscale revealed on April 28 that the attackers involved in a recent $5.8 million heist committed to returning the majority of the stolen money in return for a reward payment.

Hackers Agree To 10% Bounty After Platform Hack

As reported in posts posted on X (formerly Twitter), Loopscale was able to negotiate successfully with the attacker who had compromised their system on April 26. The deal permits the attacker to retain 10% of the stolen cryptocurrency as a “bounty” and return the other 90% to the platform. This amounts to around 3,947 SOL (Solana tokens) for the attacker, and 35,527 SOL returns to Loopscale.

At 3:52PM ET today, we received a response from the exploiter. They have indicated a willingness to return the exploited funds in exchange for a bounty.

We appreciate their engagement so far and we are actively working to reach an amicable resolution.

As such, we will be… https://t.co/znCZxtoi1z

— Loopscale (@LoopscaleLabs) April 28, 2025

The firm appreciated the hacker for consenting to the settlement and assured that they would provide updates on when vault withdrawals would resume. They further assured that they would release a detailed analysis of how the attack occurred and what they learned during the process.

Technical Vulnerability Led To Multi-Million Dollar Theft

Reports indicate the hack was not a straightforward break-in but rather sophisticated manipulation of Loopscale’s pricing mechanism. The attacker manipulated the RateX PT token pricing mechanism, enabling them to withdraw around $5.7 million in USD Coin and 1,200 Solana tokens from platform vaults.

As of today, the market cap of cryptocurrencies stood at $2.93 trillion. Chart: TradingView

Upon finding the breach, Loopscale immediately suspended all withdrawals on their vaults and halted trading on their markets. The firm clarified that only users who had deposited funds in their USDC and SOL vaults were impacted by the attack, not the overall RateX collateral system.

Legal Immunity Provided As Part Of Negotiation Tactic

In response to the timeline provided by Loopscale, the company reacted swiftly to take care of the issue. They offered the attacker the bounty deal on April 27, the day following the hack. The 10% payment was complemented by dropping any legal pursuit against the hacker.

The site provided the hacker with a deadline of 6 AM EST on April 28 to react to the offer. The timeline closure did the trick, and the hacker accepted the proposal with an indication of willingness to refund the money in return for the reward as promised.

Today both @LoopscaleLabs and @term_labs got hacked and lost millions each

How safe is actually all this defi?

We are chasing yield, but hack-adjusted is it actually better than just holding bonds? https://t.co/dnhw6n9yol

— Tim Haldorsson (@TimHaldorsson) April 26, 2025

The Loopscale incident comes on the heels of another breach at Term Finance, raising alarm bells throughout the cryptocurrency industry. Tim Haldorsson, founder of Lunar Strategy, voiced serious concerns about whether potential returns in decentralized finance justify the mounting security risks investors face.

Record-Breaking Quarter For Cryptocurrency Security Breaches

The Loopscale attack is one of a disappointing trend of increasing cryptocurrency platform assaults. Security insiders say that more than $1.6 billion was stolen as a result of crypto hacks between the first three months of 2025, the worst quarterly period for security breaches in history.

The trend is that as the value and usage of cryptocurrency grow, platforms have more difficulty protecting user funds from increasingly sophisticated attacks. For some firms, direct negotiation with hackers has become a pragmatic, if contentious, way to recover stolen assets when conventional law enforcement approaches might be too slow or ineffectual.

Featured image from Telkom University, chart from TradingView

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