SEC Commissioner Critiques Ripple Settlement, Citing Risks to Retail Investors Amid Shifting Crypto Regulation

• SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw publicly disagreed with the SEC’s Ripple settlement, claiming it harms retail investors.

• Crenshaw criticized the Commission’s inconsistent stance on crypto, fearing it undermines investor protections.

• The Ripple case highlights concerns over SEC’s shifting crypto policies and the need for credible regulation to sustain investor trust.

SEC Commissioner Crenshaw raises concerns over Ripple settlement, citing potential harm to retail investors and the need for consistent crypto regulation.

Crenshaw Rejects SEC’s Ripple Settlement

The Ripple vs SEC case has been a landmark saga in US federal crypto enforcement. After weeks of deliberation, the Commission finalized a settlement with Ripple yesterday, agreeing to return $75 million collected as a previous fee.

However, Commissioner Crenshaw disputed the SEC’s decision with a cutting open letter.

“If Ripple decides tomorrow to sell unregistered XRP tokens to institutional investors—in plain defiance of the court’s order—this Commission will do absolutely nothing about it,” she claimed.

Last December, political maneuvering from the Senate’s pro-crypto faction defeated Crenshaw’s efforts to win another SEC term.

Since then, she has carried on the legacy of Gary Gensler, publicly criticizing the Commission’s pro-crypto turn on several recent occasions. Today’s Ripple letter is one of several such statements, and she did not mince words.

The thrust of Crenshaw’s argument was essentially that the SEC hasn’t fully restructured US crypto policy yet. Whether or not the Commission can successfully loosen rules in the future, “that does not somehow alter the rules that were in place at the time that Ripple violated them.”

In other words, she claimed that the Ripple settlement stands on a non-existent framework.

Well, the current SEC commission DID NOT WASTE taxpayers’ money by reaching this settlement.

It was Gary Gensler, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Jamie Dimon, and the other banking cabal who wasted millions of taxpayer dollars using Ripple as the scapegoat in their war on crypto, aka Operation…

— Vincent Van Code (@vincent_vancode) May 9, 2025

To be clear, her issue is not necessarily that the SEC mended fences with Ripple. Instead, Crenshaw worries that the SEC had insufficient grounds to void its own prior judgments.

Crenshaw further claimed that this policy is doing more than favoring the crypto industry—it undermines the SEC itself. The Commission’s lawyers are publicly arguing against positions they held less than six months ago, creating chaos and uncertainty.

Ultimately, she thinks this uncertainty will disproportionately harm retail investors. It seems that Crenshaw continues to soldier Gensler’s ethos alone, while both the SEC and crypto industry move on.

“Our agency is, I fear, worried that the appellate court would issue a sound ruling that agreed with the legal arguments already laid out by the Commission. That would undermine the agency’s new apparent mission of dismantling our crypto enforcement program and eroding investor protections. For these reasons, I cannot support our settlement,” Crenshaw added.

Caroline Crenshaw isn’t the only official to question the SEC’s war on crypto enforcement actions. Senator Elizabeth Warren recently voiced concerns about the Commission’s political independence. These concerns are also of vital importance to the crypto industry itself.

During the Gensler era, federal regulators’ reputation in the crypto community suffered massively due to clear examples of gross overreach. Now that the industry has unprecedented political influence, it might overreact in a few ways. Legal clarity and a laissez-faire outlook will help businesses, but they also need credible regulators.

Conclusion

In summary, SEC Commissioner Crenshaw’s critical viewpoint on the Ripple settlement highlights the ongoing debates surrounding regulatory consistency and investor protection in the cryptocurrency space. The need for a more coherent and reliable regulatory framework is essential for fostering trust and stability in the rapidly evolving crypto market.