On February 14, 2023, Judge Analisa Torres denied a joint request from Ripple and the SEC to reduce Ripple’s $125 million penalty to $50 million and lift a permanent injunction against Ripple where she said "There has been no change in circumstances warranting reconsideration of the infringement amount". Judge Torres announced it was “too late”, as she issued the fine less than a year earlier.

Ripple had hoped to make a short order on this settlement and move forward towards its 2025 US expansion plans. The SEC, now under a newly constituted, more crypto-friendly leadership, had agreed to this reduced fine in a joint settlement offer to Judge Torres. Clearly, Judge Torres was not prepared to entertain any reduction in a penalty or injunction outside the appeals process, and therefore rejected the lower court’s reconsideration request.

This ruling comes as a disappointment for Ripple, which has been fighting the SEC for over 2.5 years at a huge cost. XRP traded off roughly 4% after the ruling, as traders were assessing Ripple's options and weighing any risks related to the cloud of litigation issues on potential future actions such as approving a XRP ETF in 2025.

Ripple’s legal team will need to re-evaluate its strategy going forward if it wants to avoid paying the full $125 million fine.