The long-awaited conclusion of the settlement phase of the trial was approved with a much smaller fine than the one the SEC had requested.
US District Court Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) ruled on a sum of just over $125 million, instead of the $2 billion fine the SEC wanted .
Investors immediately rewarded Ripple with a rally that pushed the price of XRP up the crypto market cap leaderboards. As a result, the price of XRP led the 24-hour gains among all assets by mid-afternoon on Thursday on the US East Coast, with gains of 24% for the day’s trading.
XRP price rose from support at $0.50 to reach resistance at the $0.62 level.
Ripple Court Wins Goose XRP Price
Here’s a quick review of the timeframe and performance of the XRP market after Ripple’s big win against the SEC last year. Traders had a window of only days to maximize returns:
Judge Torres ruled on July 13 of last year that Ripple Labs did not violate securities laws as a result of XRP sales on public exchanges. RippleNet token prices surged more than 75% in intraday trading that Thursday.
XRP price moved from $0.48 on July 13 to a local crypto exchange market of $0.794 before returning to key support around the $0.50 level on August 17 and remaining until the end of October.
Regardless of your opinion on $XRP…
It never gets old looking @GaryGensler & SEC lose another crypto case.
•Ripple forced to pay $125 million instead of $2 million
•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 because the case may be closer to its final conclusion, the SEC can still appeal the court’s decision.
Under the leadership of Chairman Gary Gensler, the US regulator has certainly shown special encouragement and tenacity towards San Francisco-based Ripple Labs and its XRP. If it follows last year’s course, the asset may still have room to rise further from August’s $0.60 level.
But if the smart money has already priced in the crypto exchange markets, this latest development could be more of a ‘sell the news’ situation for Ripple after that initial 24% surge this week .
“As soon as we see a move above $0.66, you can quickly expect (XRP price) to reach $1.03, a mid-level target,” X Ripple price analyst Dark Defender wrote.
In the meantime, here are five long-term supports for the XRP markets worth watching for Web3 investors and altcoin traders:
1. The United States prevents a $2 billion fine from up to $125 million
To predict what kind of impact the recent SDNY ruling could have on Ripple, it’s worth comparing the market’s reaction to BNB’s settlement with the government last November.
BNB bounced back almost immediately after a staggering $4 billion fine last November. Markets with high conviction in Binance’s trading operations and future cash flows just rejected it.
Binance’s native token took a few more months to hit a new all-time high earlier this year.
Ripple’s $125 million is such a relatively insignificant fine that it comically validates the legality and regularity of the company’s operations. In addition, it may attract more cautious investors in the United States and around the world to dive into the XRP landscape.
Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote in a post on X that the approximately 94% reduction in the amount of the fine requested by the SEC recognized “that they had overplayed their hand.”
“This is a win for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law. The SEC’s headwinds against the entire XRP community are gone,” Ripple added.
2. Ripple ETF and Ripple IPO in 2025?
Garlinghouse says people should expect a Ripple IPO in 2025. The big court win brings Ripple closer to that eventuality. The company’s CEO also said that a Ripple ETF is inevitable due to demand from regulated investors.
In a June interview with Fox Business, Garlinghouse stated:
“People don’t want to be exposed to just one product. … To me, it just makes sense. You don’t want to just have exposure to single-stranded assets. I think people also forget that it wasn’t that long ago time (before the SEC got involved) that XRP was the second most valuable digital asset.”
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 wallets closer to the end of that road.
Ripple founder Chris Larsen wrote: “The SEC’s blatant campaign against us is finally over. We hope this ends this Administration’s war on crypto.”
3. XRPL expands the ripple in the DeFi sector
JUST: XRP PRICE REACHES $1,600 ON BITTRUE!!
The XRP ledger is expected to handle between $30 and $50 trillion by 2025, with transactions likely to move to the CTF token, the main DeFi token of the #XRPL.
It is currently priced at $1.16 after a 20% increase, the #CTF The testimony is… pic.twitter.com/BkRBHER1y5
— CryptoGeek (@CryptoGeekNews) July 9, 2024
Although many Web3 investors and altcoin traders may consider XRP to be a CeFi (centralized finance) token due to the design of the currency platform, XRPL extends Ripple’s functionality to support decentralized currency issuance, just like competitors like Ethereum and Solana.
In July, crypto price analyst X, CryptoGeek, wrote: “The XRP ledger is expected to handle $30-50 trillion by 2025, with transactions likely to move to the CTF token, the main DeFi token of the #XRPL”.
4. Bullish movements of the XRP whale
Another strong signal of long-term support for XRP price is the extension of whale activity.
After the judge in SEC v. Ripple reduced the latter’s speeding fine so much that it practically punished the agency, XRP whales made waves in the crypto markets, with holdings between 1 and 10 million coins rising to a total total maximum time record.
On August 5, just hours before the SEC decision against Ripple on August 7, a whale that had about 23.4 million XRP valued at $10.4 million on Binance moved storage to a wallet unknown
23,415,551 #XRP ($10,494,379) transferred from #Binance in the unknown wallethttps://t.co/701bA9GG8p
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) August 5, 2024
Here’s a powerful statement from blockchain data company Santiment about high XRP and DeFi whale activity in July:
“XRP Ledger, among July’s top performers, has been driven by high activity on the chain. Major whale transaction levels and network growth helped drive the coin’s +35% month, and social dominance is now high as the asset has pulled back slightly.”
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