The man who sued Ripple now runs US intelligence, and XRP barely flinched

There is a certain irony in the fact that the government official who launched the most consequential lawsuit in crypto history is now in charge of the US intelligence community. Jay Clayton, the former SEC chairman who authorized the agency’s case against Ripple Labs in December 2020, was confirmed as Director of National Intelligence on July 28, 2026, in a 51-47 Senate vote. XRP, the token at the center of that legal saga, was trading near $1.08 at the time, down roughly 64% year-over-year. A lawsuit that reshaped crypto regulation On December 22, 2020, with Clayton days away from leaving the SEC, the agency filed suit against Ripple Labs alleging the company had conducted an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3B through XRP sales. In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP traded on public exchanges does not qualify as a security. The litigation wrapped up with a settlement in 2025. The final civil penalty against Ripple was adjusted to $50 million, a number that reads as almost modest given the company spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees defending the suit. From securities enforcement to signals intelligence As DNI, Clayton now coordinate...