What actually happened after the “confusing” March victory call

In March 2024, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse created the headline by declaring victory in Ripple’s long-term legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a video message, Girlinghouse said with confidence, “This case is over. It’s over.”

At the time, the SEC had decided to stop the lawsuit against Ripple, but the fight seemed to have finally come to an end. But a few months later, new developments raised new questions about whether the announcement was too early.

What’s going on now?

Since March, both Ripple and the SEC have taken final legal action. Ripple agreed to drop the cross appeal, but the SEC said it would also reduce its own appeal. However, it has not yet been officially confirmed.

The date currently being talked about is August 15th, where it could become even more clear. Until then, the case has not been completely closed in the legal sense, despite Ripple’s declaration of it a few months ago.

Was Brad’s announcement premature?

Former SEC lawyer Marc Fagel thinks Garlinghouse’s victory speech may have been too early. Fagel explained that if the CEO of a public company makes such a statement, the SEC would usually be very concerned while the legal details are still unstable.

He added, “I haven’t read all of his comments and I’m sure he was careful not to explicitly say falsehoods, but as this conversation shows, he has confused many people.“

What is the real situation?

To be clear:

• Ripple and the SEC agreed to withdraw the appeal, but only if the judge first agreed to change the previous sentence and lower the penalty against Ripple.
• The judge refused to do so.
• Currently, both sides plan to remove their appeal anyway — but the previous ruling on Ripple will still be official.

So, while the most intense part of the lawsuit has essentially ended, the ultimate legal status is a little more complicated than Brad’s March video suggests.