Cryptocurrency company Ripple is pushing back against an SEC decision that it needs to pay $2 billion USD in fines for offering unregistered securities.

The blockchain business Ripple says that the fine should not exceed $10 million, according to their legal sources. They contest that because the SEC was unable to prove that Ripple was guilty of fraud or recklessness that the law limits how much they can be fined.

Here is the breakdown of the fines they are currently being asked to pay: $876 million in civil penalties, $198 in pre-judgement interest, and $876 million in disgorgement. Altogether, the fines come up to about $2 billion.

As this point, the SEC has asked a federal judge to enforce that penalty, but Ripple is pleading to the court that they not have to pay the entirety of the sum. They are requesting a fine of $10 million, which they say is much more reasonable and in line with the proven complaints against them.

Ripple Supports Their Case

A statement from Ripple says that the company is planning to adhere to the guidance it received from the SEC about how to operate in the future within the confines of the law. The company says it has been incentivized to follow the regulations closely and how no intention of operating illegally with unregistered securities. They are asking that the court take those facts into consideration and reject the entirety of the SEC’s remedial requests, which they call “Draconian”.

The fine of nearly $2 billion was revealed on March 25^th, nearly a month earlier. The company has been fighting the decision and trying to get the fines reduced since then. Ripple’s lawyers say that the SEC is singling out Ripple in an attempt to punish them and the larger crypto industry. According to representatives from Ripple, the actions that Ripple took, though outside the law, caused no harm to anyone.