- XRP’s exploit was in the face of the latest appeal filed against it by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), challenging District Judge Analisa Torres's July 2023 ruling
- XRP price has reached a seven-year high, trading at $3.39, up 15.61% in the past day
- XRP price is now up 45.91% in the past seven days and 29.33% in the past month
After some days of decline, the bull returned to the crypto market on January 16. XRP, the native coin of the Ripples Network, reached its highest amount since January 2018. The world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, again crossed the $100,000 mark.
XRP’s exploit was in the face of the latest appeal filed against it by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), challenging District Judge Analisa Torres's July 2023 ruling that determined sales of XRP to retail investors did not qualify as unregistered securities. Experts, however, say the optimism is driven largely by the hope of favourable crypto regulation expected as the new administration of Donald Trump steps in. The stepping down of the current SEC chairman is another factor.
According to Coinmarketcap data, the XRP price has reached a seven-year high. At the time of writing, it was trading at $3.39, up 15.61% in the past day. The price is now up 45.91% in the past seven days and 29.33% in the past month.
XRP’s market capitalisation has also surged 15.72%, reaching $194.6 billion, while the 24-hour trade volume has reached $27.28 billion, up 42.36%.
Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, said, via Cointelegraph, that the market seems to have favoured Ripple Labs’ victory, adding that the expected regularity change that would come with Trump’s administration tilted to XRP's favour.
“XRP’s surge can be attributed to favourable outcomes in Ripple’s SEC lawsuit and a more crypto-friendly political climate in the US. If regulatory uncertainties are resolved, the influx of institutional investors could further solidify XRP’s position in the crypto market,” Lee said.
The bull also touched the world’s largest coin, Bitcoin, helping it cross the $100,000 mark again. At the time of writing, however, the coin has dropped below the mark to $99,311 after trading at $100,540 in the early hours of the day. The coin’s market capitalisation has been a bit stable at $1.96 trillion, up 0.14% in the past day, while the volume of trade has decreased by 0.32% to $54.51 billion.
Man who threw away hard drive with $770M worth Bitcoin loses latest chances of recovery
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that Judge Keyser KC, the Circuit Commercial Judge for Wales in the United Kingdom, has dashed the hopes of James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, who threw away his hard drive containing more than $770 million worth of Bitcoin.
Howells mistakenly threw away the hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin, which he mined in 2009 and is now valued at about $770 million. The hard drive eventually ended up in a landfill.
