XRP’s classification under US securities law remains settled following the Ripple court ruling, despite renewed debate around dropped crypto enforcement cases.
Legal discussion has resurfaced over whether regulators can reopen matters already decided by the courts.
Lawyer Bill Morgan said the SEC v. Ripple case is effectively closed because the doctrine of res judicata prevents relitigation.
“That is correct. And the doctrine of Res Judicata refers to both claim preclusion and issue preclusion,”
Morgan said.
Morgan said the SEC’s litigation strategy forced the court to directly assess whether XRP itself was a security.
“This was a high risk overreach strategy by the SEC in the litigation and it backfired. Strategic level mistakes suck in litigation,”
Morgan said.
He explained that the court’s analysis distinguished between institutional sales and programmatic sales of XRP.
The SEC did not appeal the ruling that XRP itself is not a security, permanently locking in that legal finding.
The case originated in 2020, when the SEC accused Ripple of selling XRP as an unregistered security.
A 2023 ruling found institutional sales to be securities while programmatic exchange sales were not, leading to a final judgment in August 2025.
Ripple paid a reduced $50 million penalty, and both sides dropped appeals, cementing XRP’s unique legal status.
At the time of reporting, XRP price was $1.95.