Ripples native coin, XRP, has enjoyed some incredible gains, rallying to massive levels since a week ago. In fact, XRP’s price has been described as the best performing price action in the entire crypto market in recent times – so much so that it even eclipsed the big hitters, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
While XRP investors have been left rubbing their eyes in disbelief, many have begun to wonder when the bubble will burst. While Ripple’s case with the SEC – more on this later – may have something to do with these unprecedented gains, it remains to be seen the trajectory that XRP follows in the coming weeks.
Top crypto gains
After a devastating month in the world of crypto, it appears that the crypto market is in a period of recovery, with major cryptocurrencies showing great improvement in the past few days. Let’s touch on the performance of XRP and Bitcoin over the past week.
XRP
XRP has been trading bullish in the past 7 days, up 45% and trading around $0.88 at the time of writing. Fascinatingly, XRP is significantly up against BTC, gaining around 5.62% in XRP/BTC trading pair – marking the strongest single-day move in the trading pair over the past half-year.
The XRP price rebound is the strongest gain against top crypto assets in 6 months, surpassing both Solana and Cardano in market valuation – truly incredible! XRP also gained in the EXR/ETH trading pair, up by 6.83% on the day. XRP is currently sitting at 6th place on the market cap rankings, and experts believe it will soon breach $1, a price last seen in the final quarter of 2021.
Bitcoin
The world’s largest cryptocurrency – BTC – gained around 20% in the last week, purportedly due to the stronger-than-expected US jobs data release that encouraged investment. With BTC’s price hovering around the $44,000 mark at the time of writing, experts believe that it won’t be long before Bitcoin breaches the $46,000 mark.
Market sentiment is that Bitcoin is building momentum, fighting back from its recent slump and lifting above its 50-day moving average for the first time in 81 days. Time will tell whether this upturn in fortunes can sustain itself as we head into March and beyond.
Why XRP has gained so much
XRP has been the talk of the town in recent times and its price surge could well be attributed to the positive sentiment surrounding the Ripples court case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – who allege that the blockchain-based payments company sold XRP to the public as an unregistered security.
Ripple’s battle with the SEC began in December 2020 as they argued whether XRP should be treated as a security or a cryptocurrency. Ripple has been adamant that XRP is a cryptocurrency and not subject to the same regulations as stocks.
In the latest twist, the judge ordered several documents to be unsealed – including email threads from executives – and also allowed Ripple to maintain its fair notice defence where it could argue if it had fair notice from the SEC over whether XRP sales were classified as securities sales.
XRP’s value has soared as investors have been encouraged by developments in this case – especially considering that Ripple is allowed to maintain its fair notice defence. If Ripple wins this case based on their fair notice defence, that could become a persuasive authority for any crypto company that the SEC sues going forward – making it incredibly hard for the SEC to succeed with future lawsuits against crypto companies.
Final thoughts
Despite a topsy-turvy past few months, Ripples executives remain cautiously optimistic about XRP’s growth in 2022. Having enjoyed fantastic gains in the past week and all signs pointing towards a successful outcome of the court case with the SEC, the stage is set for XRP to flourish in the coming year.
Factors such as regulatory clarity, NFT’s, greater interaction with different blockchains, and improved crypto adoption also make for a promising year for Ripple and XRP. Certainly, investor confidence will sky-rocket with a legal win over the SEC – something that many are anticipating in earnest.
As things stand, XRP is showing no signs of slowing down in 2022 – it’s best to buckle up and enjoy the ride!
