Forbes - SEC vs Ripple Lawsuit Dropped

The SEC sued Ripple in 2020, accusing it of raising $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering. In 2023, Ripple notched a partial victory: a federal judge ruled that XRP wasn’t a security when sold to retail investors, but was when sold to institutions. The agency appealed that decision, but according to Garlinghouse, it is now backing down. The SEC has yet to confirm it.

In recent weeks, the securities regulator has also dropped cases and investigations into Coinbase, Uniswap, Robinhood, OpenSea, Kraken and Consensys, as its newly formed crypto task force is working on a more “comprehensive and clear” regulatory framework for the industry.

The decentralized Ethereum-based mixer was blacklisted in 2022 after U.S. authorities linked it to more than $7 billion in laundered funds, including over $455 million allegedly stolen by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The move effectively banned U.S. persons from using the service and sparked backlash from crypto advocates, who argued that targeting a smart contract, an autonomous piece of code, set a dangerous legal precedent.

Now, addresses associated with Tornado Cash have been scrubbed from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement on Friday the administration "remains deeply concerned" about North Korea's "state-sponsored hacking and money laundering campaign," and said it would continue to monitor transactions that may benefit hackers.

The decision could impact the case against Roman Storm, one of Tornado Cash’s developers, who still faces charges related to money laundering and sanctions violations.