Quick Read – Jay Clayton authorized the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple on December 22, 2020, and is now the director of national intelligence. – XRP fell 60% in the week after the filing and stayed off U.S. exchanges for two and a half years. – Ripple still cannot sell XRP to U.S….
stitutions without registering those sales as securities, because Judge Torres refused twice to lift the injunction. – The CLARITY Act could nullify the injunction by reclassifying XRP as a digital commodity, but Polymarket gives the bill only a 14% chance of passing this year. – Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it
Jay Clayton was the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission when the agency sued Ripple. He authorized the lawsuit on December 22, 2020, and left the agency the next day. He is now the director of national intelligence, sworn in on August 3 to oversee 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.
The case he started ran for nearly five years and closed in August 2025, but the court’s ruling still stands, and it still restricts what Ripple can do with XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) in the United States. What Clayton’s Lawsuit Did to XRP in December 2020 The SEC sued Ripple, CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen on December 22, 2020, claiming the company had raised $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering going back to 2013. The XRP price fell roughly 60% over the following week, dropping to around $0.20.