Ripple announced on August 7 that its four-year legal battle with the SEC was over. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, in his statement on the

“This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law. “The SEC’s barriers to the XRP community are gone,” the CEO wrote. The community reacted quickly, with XRP rising by 26% following Garlinghouse’s announcement.

While many lawyers are calling the latest court decision a “major victory” for Ripple, some question whether it is a complete victory. Others have speculated whether this decision could be the end of the legal battle.

Reducing the SEC’s claim for damages from $2 billion to $125 million is “certainly not a victory for the SEC,” according to Seward & Kissel attorney and former SEC counsel Philip Moustakis, but it’s still hard to tell whether there are any winners in the case.

Due to factors such as uncertainty about how US securities laws apply to cryptocurrencies, legal defense and penalty costs, and the disruption of Ripple’s business since the end of 2020, when the case began, Moustakis explained this situation as follows:

“Ripple is a winner, but I think looking at the big picture, being involved in years of litigation, having your asset, your token delisted, at least for a while, fighting a regulator, and paying a huge fine – it doesn’t really feel like a victory.”

Aside from the high costs of Ripple’s “victory,” there is also the possibility that the SEC will re-question some aspects of the case. Following Torres’ latest decision, the SEC was given 60 days to file an appeal in the Ripple case.

“Today begins the 60-day countdown to the appeal deadline,” XRP supporter lawyer Fred Rispol wrote on the X platform on August 7.

According to Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, the SEC’s potential appeal will likely be directed at other court rulings rather than the latest damages ruling.

If the SEC files an appeal by October 6, it would likely be related to Torres’ July 2023 court ruling that XRP is not considered a security if it is sold only to retail investors.

At the same time, Torres ruled that XRP was still a security when sold to institutional investors. Concluding his communication with the SEC and Ripple, Terrett stated the following:

“I think it is unlikely that either side will appeal the compensation decision. “Once the final decision is made, it seems more likely that the SEC will appeal the July 2023 decision.”

“They have the right to appeal. And if they do, the focus will be on programmatic sales,” said attorney Jeremy Hogan.

Mayer Brown’s Joe Castelluccio noted that the SEC is likely to appeal considering the agency has already failed in October 2023.

The SEC will likely appeal over the secondary sales and penalty, according to the attorney. Additionally, the SEC did not explicitly state that sales on Ripple’s cross-border payment services, On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), violated the law. Instead, he claimed that the sales showed the possibility of Ripple recidivism.