The long-awaited conclusion to the settlements phase of the trial passed with a much smaller fine than the SEC had requested.
U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) decided on a sum just a little over $125 million— instead of the $2 billion fine the SEC wanted.
Investors immediately rewarded Ripple with a rally that pushed XRP price up the crypto market cap leaderboards. As a result, XRP price led 24-hour gains among all assets by mid-afternoon Thursday on the U.S. Eastern seaboard— posting 24% gains for the day’s trading.
XRP price surged from support at $0.50 to meet resistance at the $0.62 level.
Ripple Court Wins Goose XRP Price
Here’s a quick review of the timeframe and market performance of XRP after Ripple’s big win against the SEC last year. Traders had a window of just days to maximize returns:
Judge Torres ruled on July 13 last year that Ripple Labs did not violate securities laws as a result of XRP sales on public exchanges. RippleNet token prices jumped by over 75% in intraday trading that Thursday.
XRP price went parabolic from $0.48 on July 13 to a local crypto exchange market high of $0.794 before settling back to key support around the $0.50 level by Aug. 17 and remaining there until late October.
Regardless of your opinion on $XRP…
It never gets old watching @GaryGensler & SEC lose another crypto case.
•Ripple forced to pay $125M instead of $2B
•Judge rules that XRP is not a security pic.twitter.com/CMLmwBQINl— Luke Martin (@VentureCoinist) August 7, 2024
While things could be different this time around because the case may be drawing nearer to its final conclusion, the SEC can still appeal the court’s ruling.
Under Chairman Gary Gensler’s leadership, the U.S. regulator has certainly shown an especial animus and tenacity toward the San Francisco-based Ripple Labs and its XRP. If it follows last year’s course, the asset may yet have room to rise further from the $0.60 level in August.
But if the smart money has already priced a favorable ruling into the crypto exchange markets, this latest development could be more of a “sell the news” situation for Ripple after that initial 24% bump this week.
“As soon as we see a move above $0.66, you can quickly expect [XRP price] to hit $1.03, a mid-level target,” wrote X Ripple price analyst Dark Defender.
Meanwhile, here are five long-term supports for XRP markets that may be worth considering for Web3 investors and altcoin traders:
1. U.S. Whittles $2 Billion Ripple Fine to $125MM
To predict what kind of impact the recent SDNY ruling might have on Ripple, it may be worth comparing the market reaction to BNB’s settlement with the government last November.
BNB almost immediately rallied after a staggering $4 billion fine last November. Markets with high conviction in Binance’s business operations and future cash flows just shrugged it off.
It took Binance’s native token several more months to chart a new all-time high earlier this year.
Ripple’s $125 million ding is so comparatively paltry a fine it is comically validating to the legality and regularity of the company’s operations. Moreover, it may lure more cautious investors in the United States and globally to dip their toes in the XRP landscape.
Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote in a post on X that the roughly 94% reduction to the SEC’s requested fine amount recognized “that they had overplayed their hand.”
“This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law. The SEC’s headwinds against the whole of the XRP community are gone,” Ripple added.
2. Ripple ETF and Ripple IPO in 2025?
Garlinghouse says people should expect a Ripple IPO by 2025. The big win in court moves Ripple closer to that eventuality. The firm’s CEO also said a Ripple ETF is inevitable due to demand from regulated investors.
In a June interview on Fox Business, Garlinghouse stated:
“People don’t want exposure to just one commodity… To me, it only makes sense. You don’t want to have just a single-threaded asset exposure. I think people also forget that it wasn’t that long time ago (before the SEC got involved) that XRP was the second-most valuable digital asset.”
Way back in May 2022 in an interview with CNBC in Davos, Garlinghouse promised that Ripple will explore an IPO as soon as the SEC lawsuit ends. The SDNY court’s ruling on disbursements this August brings Ripple Labs and XRP bagholders closer to the end of that road.
Ripple Founder Chris Larsen wrote: “The SEC’s unhinged campaign against us is finally over. Let’s all hope this ends this Administration’s war on crypto.”
3. XRPL Extends Ripple Into DeFi Sector
JUST: XRP PRICE GLITCH TO $1,600 ON BITTRUE!!
The XRP Ledger is expected to manage $30 to $50 trillion by 2025, with transactions likely shifting to the CTF Token, the primary DeFi token on the #XRPL.
Currently priced at $1.16 following a 20% increase, the #CTF Token is… pic.twitter.com/BkRBHER1y5
— CryptoGeek (@CryptoGeekNews) July 9, 2024
Although many Web3 investors and altcoin day traders may consider XRP to be a CeFi token (centralized finance) because of the currency platform’s design, XRPL extends Ripple functionality to support decentralized currency issuance, the same as competitors like Ethereum and Solana.
In July, X crypto price analyst CryptoGeek wrote, “The XRP Ledger is expected to manage $30 to $50 trillion by 2025, with transactions likely shifting to the CTF Token, the primary DeFi token on the #XRPL.”
4. Bullish XRP Whale Moves
Another strong signal of long-term support for the XRP price is the extent of whale activity.
After the judge in the SEC v. Ripple case cut down the latter’s speeding ticket by so much that it practically punished the agency instead, XRP whales made waves in the crypto markets— with holdings between 1 million and 10 million coins rising to an all-time record high.
On Aug. 5, mere hours ahead of the Aug. 7 SEC v. Ripple decision, a whale holding some 23.4 million XRP valued at $10.4 million USD on Binance moved the stash to an unknown wallet.
23,415,551 #XRP (10,494,379 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallethttps://t.co/701bA9GG8p
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) August 5, 2024
Here’s a powerful statement from blockchain data company Santiment on elevated XRP whale and DeFi activity in July:
“XRP Ledger, among one of the best performers in July, has been powered by high on-chain activity. Major whale transaction levels and network growth helped propel the coin’s +35% month, and social dominance is now sky-high as the asset has mildly retraced.”
