%Cryptocurrency XRP has risen 17% after a U.S. judge ended a long running legal battle between Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A federal judge ordered Ripple Labs to pay $125 million U.S. in civil penalties and imposed an injunction against future securities law violations.
Although investors and analysts say the legal case has now likely reached its conclusion, the SEC is expected to appeal the judgement.
Regardless, markets reacted positively to news of the ruling with XRP jumping as high as $0.65 U.S. from $0.50 U.S. while trading volumes surged to $4.20 billion U.S. in the past 24 hours.
Ripple Labs is an American technology company that has developed the Ripple payment protocol and exchange network that is associated with the %XRP cryptocurrency.
The dispute with the SEC has been ongoing since December 2020 when the regulator filed suit against Ripple Labs claiming that company co-founders Christian Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse raised more than $1.3 billion U.S. through an unregistered securities offering.
The lawsuit had hung over the XRP cryptocurrency like a black cloud, but now appears to have been lifted.
Open interest in XRP rose by $200 million U.S. following the judge’s ruling in the Ripple Labs case as new money enters the market.
Over the past 12 months, XRP had declined 5% amid the ongoing legal issues impacting Ripple Labs.
