Ripple (Ripple Labs), a payments technology company linked to XRP

What Ripple does

Ripple sells its services to banks, payment companies and businesses. They include Ripple Payments for international transfers, the Ripple Custody service for holding digital assets, Ripple Prime, a brokerage for large investors, and the RLUSD stablecoin¹. A private person usually comes across XRP and RLUSD on an exchange or in a wallet app and has no dealings with the company itself.

In some of these services XRP is a bridge between two currencies, like a change of planes at a hub airport on the way between two cities. The XRP profile walks through an example of such a route, transfers from Japan to the Philippines. News of a Ripple deal does not yet mean that the deal uses XRP, because payments can also go in RLUSD.

1. private rounds and buyback of shares from shareholders Ripple, «Ripple Announces $500 Million Strategic Investment Led by Fortress and Citadel Securities» ripple.com ↩
2. Delaware, San Francisco, founded in 2012 SEC, «Complaint, SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc., Bradley Garlinghouse, and Christian A. Larsen» sec.gov ↩
3. names, co-founders, 80 billion XRP U.S. District Court S.D.N.Y., «SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc., Opinion and Order, No. 20 Civ. 10832 (AT), ECF 874» nysd.uscourts.gov ↩
4. leadership and board of directors Ripple, «Leadership» ripple.com ↩
5. 2017 escrow Ripple, «Ripple to Place 55 Billion XRP in Escrow to Ensure Certainty of Total XRP Supply» ripple.com ↩
6. Ripple Prime, Ripple Payments, Ripple Custody Ripple, «It's Prime Time: Ripple Closes Hidden Road Acquisition» ripple.com; RLUSD Ripple, «RLUSD: The USD Stablecoin for Institutions» ripple.com ↩
7. outcome of the case SEC, «Litigation Release No. 26369» sec.gov archive ↩

How Ripple and the XRP coin are connected

Does Ripple issue new XRP

No. All 100 billion XRP were created at once when the XRP Ledger network launched, and the creators handed 80 billion of them to the company². The network does not issue new coins. With every transfer a tiny amount of XRP is destroyed for good ("burned") as the fee for the transfer³. How the issuance of coins works on different networks is explained in the article what is issuance.

In May 2017 Ripple announced that it would lock 55 billion of its XRP directly on the network so that it could take them only on a schedule. Such accounts are called escrow. These are 55 contracts of 1 billion XRP each, and every month one of them becomes available to the company. Whatever Ripple doesn't spend in a month, it puts back into escrow at the end of the queue⁴. How much XRP the company holds now changes every month.

For an XRP holder this means two things: the company's sales affect the XRP market, so it is worth reading its reports on sales and escrow yourself, and the company cannot run the network on its own, as the hub XRP Ledger explains.

The SEC lawsuit against Ripple in 2020–2025

In December 2020 the SEC sued Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen. The regulator argued that by selling XRP, Ripple had been selling securities without registration⁵. The main stages of the case:

1. In July 2023 the court looked at the sales by type. It found that direct sales of XRP to large companies and funds (institutional buyers) under written contracts were unregistered sales of investment contracts, that is, investments in someone else's work in the expectation of profit. As for anonymous sales on exchanges, distributions of XRP to employees and partners, and sales by Larsen and Garlinghouse themselves, the court ruled that they were not such sales ⚖️².
2. In August 2024 the court issued its final judgment. Ripple has to pay a penalty of about 125 million dollars and is permanently barred from selling securities without registration ⚖️⁶.
3. Both sides appealed the ruling. On 7 August 2025 the SEC and Ripple filed a joint stipulation dropping their appeals, the 2024 final judgment with its penalty and injunction remains in force, and with that the case ended ⚖️⁷.

Did the court rule that XRP is a security

The court gave no general answer of the kind "XRP is a security" or "XRP is not a security" ⚖️. It examined Ripple's specific deals. Buyers under direct contracts knew they were paying Ripple itself and expected to profit from its work, so the court treated those deals as investment contracts. Buyers on exchanges did not know whether their money went to Ripple or to any other seller, and they received no promises from the company².

An example with apartments makes the difference easy to picture. If you pay a developer under a contract in which it promises to build a building, you are investing in its work. If you buy a finished apartment from a stranger through an agency, the developer doesn't know about you and has promised you nothing. The court did not separately consider XRP deals between other holders on the secondary market, and the ruling states directly that this question was not before it ⚖️².

What the outcome of the case means for an XRP holder

The injunction in the final judgment is addressed to Ripple, its employees and those acting together with them⁶. It is a US court ruling under US law ⚖️. Whether you can buy XRP in your country and how to pay tax when you sell is decided by local rules, which are covered on the country pages, for example cryptocurrency in Argentina and cryptocurrency in Brazil, and in the guide how to handle crypto taxes.

Ripple's regulation and licences

The RLUSD stablecoin and the New York State licence

In December 2024 Ripple launched RLUSD on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks. It is issued by Ripple's trust subsidiary, a company authorized to hold other people's property, under a limited-purpose licence from the New York State financial regulator (NYDFS) ⚖️⁸. For each RLUSD the company holds a dollar in bank accounts, US government bonds or similar short-term securities. Once a month an independent audit firm carries out a reserve attestation, confirming the reserves on a single date, and such a check is not a full audit ⚖️⁸. The main custodian of the reserves is the bank BNY⁹. The article what is a stablecoin explains what a stablecoin is.

The general framework for dollar stablecoins in the US is the GENIUS Act. The law and the rules issued under it by the federal bank regulator (OCC) take effect on 18 January 2027 ⚖️¹⁰.

Ripple's licences in Europe and the United Kingdom

In 2026 Ripple received licences for electronic money and crypto business in the UK and Luxembourg, including an authorization under the European Union's common rules for crypto (MiCA) ⚖️¹¹¹². The company keeps the full list of its licences itself, and it changes.

Which companies Ripple bought in 2023–2025

In 2023–2025 Ripple bought several companies for crypto custody, stablecoin payments and brokerage services, such as the broker Hidden Road, which is now called Ripple Prime¹. For a customer of a bank or payment service, this means that one company now handles payments, custody and brokerage, so news about Ripple is no longer only about XRP.

Where to check the latest on Ripple

Ripple publishes the company's XRP holdings and the amount in escrow in its quarterly reports.

RLUSD reserve reports come out every month.

Licences by country are listed on the compliance page.

More detail on the company's names, the SEC case, licences and acquisitions

The company was founded in 2012 as NewCoin, Inc. In October 2012 it was renamed OpenCoin, Inc., and in 2013 Ripple Labs, Inc.².

The case is called SEC v. Ripple Labs, Inc. et al., number 1:20-cv-10832, and it was heard by the federal court for the Southern District of New York ⚖️. The SEC filed the lawsuit on 22 December 2020⁵. On 19 October 2023 the SEC and the defendants signed a stipulation under which the remaining charges against Larsen and Garlinghouse were dismissed for good, with no right to bring them again, and the court approved it on 23 October¹³. The final judgment of 7 August 2024 imposed a penalty of 125,035,150 dollars and an injunction against violating the registration provisions of section 5 of the Securities Act⁶. On 4 September 2024 the court stayed collection of the penalty pending the appeals, and Ripple placed the money in a separate account¹⁴. The SEC filed an appeal, and Ripple filed a cross-appeal⁷. On 8 May 2025 the parties agreed on a settlement: the SEC would have received 50 million dollars, the rest of the penalty would have gone back to Ripple, and the injunction would have been lifted¹⁵. On 26 June 2025 Judge Analisa Torres refused, because the grounds for the penalty and the injunction had not changed¹⁶. The SEC reported on the case in releases 26306 and 26369. The court documents are in the PACER system, and CourtListener collects copies of them.

In January 2026 Ripple received an electronic money institution licence and a cryptoasset registration from the FCA in the United Kingdom, and in February 2026 a full electronic money institution licence from Luxembourg's regulator, the CSSF ⚖️¹¹. In July 2026 the CSSF granted it a crypto-asset service provider authorization under MiCA ⚖️¹².

Ripple bought Hidden Road for 1.25 billion dollars, closed the deal in October 2025, and the broker was renamed Ripple Prime¹⁷¹. Ripple announced the purchase of GTreasury for 1 billion dollars on 16 October 2025¹⁸. Rail cost about 200 million dollars, and the price of Palisade was not disclosed¹⁹.

Frequently asked questions