Ripple’s XRP is now the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap following Ripple Labs’ partial victory over the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 13.
Just hours after the ruling, XRP’s market cap soared by $21.2 billion to an all-time high of $46.1 billion. This moved XRP up from 7th place to overtake Circle’s USD coin.
At the time of this writing, Ripple’s market cap has settled at $41.4 billion.
The sudden surge in XRP is due to a decision by the Southern District of New York in a lawsuit involving Ripple Labs and the company
XRP is currently the fourth largest cryptocurrency. XRP tracking futures traders suffered a total loss of $58 million after a U.S. judge ruled that the sale of XRP tokens on exchanges does not constitute an investment contract, according to Coinglass data.
Of these, short positions, traders lost $33 million, while long positions accounted for the rest. Traders on the crypto exchange Bybit had the most liquidations at $21 million, followed by OKX at $14 million and Binance at $14 million.
Similarly, in the hours following the decision, XRP’s price soared by 80%, reaching a high of $0.93, according to TradingView data.
Coinbase, which previously removed XRP from its trading platform, tweeted on Thursday afternoon that it would again allow the asset to be traded. Gemini said it is “evaluating the listing of XRP in both spot and derivatives trading.
- “The ruling that Ripple’s institutional sale of XRP is a security has significant implications for the industry as well, as there are likely to be multiple ICOs currently in the spotlight.
- “For exchanges involved in the ongoing SEC litigation, it is not clear how this ruling will affect them. As you can see from the price, the market is very bullish on the verdict.” Martin added
Some of these decisions can be appealed and overturned. In fact, the filing said the court would issue a separate order setting a trial date. In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple for violating U.S. securities laws by selling XRP without prior registration with regulators.
The decision is expected in the second half of 2023 as crypto assets continue to face a challenging macroeconomic environment and have come under intense pressure from US regulators in recent weeks, as evidenced by the lawsuit filed by the SEC.
It was widely seen as one of the biggest hurdles to overcome. to Coinbase and Binance in June.
An apparent XRP buying rush has caused US crypto exchange Uphold to crash, albeit temporarily, with a “completely unprecedented” surge in trading volumes.
Uphold is believed to be one of the few major U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges to continue selling XRP as other major cryptocurrency exchanges choose to delist.
The new ruling also sparked a new wave of relisting activity on major US exchanges, allowing Kraken and iTrustCapital to trade their tokens on their respective platforms.
Winklevoss-owned crypto exchange Gemini has also indicated that it is considering listing XRP again at some point soon. Elsewhere, the ruling resulted in Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA ), and other altcoins soaring.
