Analisa Torres, a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of New York, has ruled that Ripple did not violate federal securities laws by conducting programmatic sales of XRP to retail customers through its trading platform. But Ripple's 1,278 institutional sales transactions violated securities laws and fined it $125.035 million, far less than the $1 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and $900 million in civil penalties sought by the SEC. Although the case is allegedly over, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to appeal the ruling, which means the legal matter may be prolonged. (Coindesk)