SEC to draft clearer crypto rules after Ripple case

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to focus on drafting clear rules for the cryptocurrency industry after the conclusion of its five-year court battle with Ripple, said the regulator’s chief, Paul Atkins.

Commissioner Peirce is right. With this chapter closed, we now have an opportunity to shift our energy from the courtroom to the policy drafting table. Our focus should be on building a clear regulatory framework that fosters innovation while protecting investors. #ProjectCrypto

— Paul Atkins (@SECPaulSAtkins) August 11, 2025

“Now that this chapter is closed, we can shift our efforts from the courtroom to the policy drafting table. We need to focus on building clear regulatory frameworks that encourage innovation while protecting investors,” he wrote.

Atkins was responding to a post by SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, known in the crypto community as “Crypto Mom.” She called the conclusion of the dispute between the regulator and the fintech firm “a long-awaited event.”

Last week, the SEC’s case against Ripple was finally laid to rest. A welcome development for many reasons, including that minds once occupied with litigation now can concentrate on creating a clear regulatory framework for crypto: https://t.co/xU1VrmSnFM

— Hester Peirce (@HesterPeirce) August 11, 2025

“Experts previously occupied with litigation can now focus on developing transparent regulation for the crypto market,” she added.

The SEC sued Ripple in 2020, accusing the crypto company of selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP tokens. In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that exchange trading of the coin did not violate U.S. law, though sales to institutional investors did.

Ripple was ordered to pay a $125 million fine. The SEC had initially sought $2 billion.

The end of the dispute coincided with progress on the CLARITY Act — a bill that would create a regulatory base for the entire crypto sector. On July 18, the U.S. Congress approved the initiative.

Republican lawmakers plan to pass the CLARITY Act by the end of September. But many Democrats, including House Financial Services Committee chair Maxine Waters, call the bill “dangerous” and oppose it.

“[Republicans] are doubling down by pushing a dangerous package of cryptocurrency bills through Congress. In addition to lacking necessary consumer and national security protections, these bills would make Congress complicit in [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s unprecedented crypto grift,” — said Waters in July.

What about XRP’s price?

Since the case concluded, XRP has risen 3%, according to CoinGecko. At the time of writing, the token trades at $3.14.

Technical analyst Gert van Lagen noted that the altcoin has cleared a seven-year “double bottom” structure, breaking resistance at $1.8. After a pullback, XRP again bounced from that zone, a signal that typically indicates a durable trend.

$XRP [2W] – Ripple is ready to rip.

The 7-year double bottom has broken out at ❌
The neckline was successfully retested at 🔵

ATH cleared — first target near ~$34, at 2.00 fib. extension of double bottom.

—> Compare with 2014-2017 setup pic.twitter.com/aVk0lxp03O

— Gert van Lagen (@GertvanLagen) August 11, 2025

Based on Fibonacci levels, the next key target is $34 by mid-2026, the expert calculates. A similar setup appeared in 2014–2017, when it preceded a 100,000% rally.

XRP may face a correction. As Cointelegraph notes, activity on Ripple’s blockchain — the XRP Ledger — remains extremely low compared with other major networks.

According to DeFi Llama, the ratio of the altcoin’s market capitalisation ($190 billion) to the TVL in its ecosystem ($85 million) is 2,200:1. For Ethereum the metric is 5.6:1, even though XRP is valued at 40% of ether’s market cap. That may indicate the Ripple token is overpriced.

Glassnode data show that more than 95% of addresses holding XRP are currently in profit. In previous cycles, reaching this level coincided with steep declines:

• in 2021, after the same threshold, the price fell 65% over three months;
• in 2024, XRP dropped 40% over two months.

Analysts say that when profitability is high, investors start taking profits, creating selling pressure.

On August 7, Ripple acquired the stablecoin platform Rail for $200 million.