The price of XRP surged 26% following a significant development in the Ripple vs. SEC case, signaling a positive turn for the cryptocurrency. Ripple executives are hailing this as a triumph for the industry, with indications that XRP will not be classified as a security.
Legal Milestone for Ripple
On August 7, a New York federal judge ordered Ripple Labs to pay a $125 million civil penalty. Additionally, Ripple Labs was “permanently restrained and enjoined” from violating U.S. securities laws. This ruling brings the three-year-long securities lawsuit, initially filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in December 2020, closer to its conclusion.
Market Reaction
Following the court’s decision, XRP’s price spiked 26% to $0.63, recovering most of its recent losses from the broader crypto market downturn since August 5. As of publication, XRP is trading at $0.59, representing a 44.88% increase over the past 30 days according to CoinMarketCap data.
Executive Reactions
Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressed his satisfaction in a post on X, stating, “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.” Co-founder Chris Larsen echoed this sentiment, adding, “The SEC’s unhinged campaign against us is finally over. Let’s all hope this ends this Administration’s war on crypto.”
Community and Analyst Responses
The crypto community and analysts have been abuzz with reactions to the ruling and XRP’s price movement. Crypto lawyer Fred Rispoli commented, “Overall, a HUGE win for Ripple. Although I’m surprised at the $125M hit, Ripple more than made that just on the price move in XRP in the last 5 minutes.” Ripple researcher Ripple Van Winkle enthusiastically noted, “XRP IS READY TO FLY. NO MORE HOLDING IT BACK! NO MORE PRICE SUPPRESSION! THE LAWSUIT IS DONE!!”
The price surge caught future traders by surprise, resulting in a significant liquidation of short positions. In just four hours, $5.4 million worth of short positions were liquidated according to CoinGlass data. If the price momentum continues and XRP hits $0.65, another $20 million in short positions could be liquidated.
