XRP prices have rallied lately, rising above the $0.50 level and climbing to their highest in more than five months.
The cryptocurrency, which serves as the native digital asset of the Ripple platform, rose to as much as $0.5307 this afternoon, CoinDesk figures show.
At this point, it had increased more than 13% in under 24 hours and was trading at its loftiest value since October, additional CoinDesk data reveals.
The XRP digital currency has been having a great month, rising more than 50% since March 12.
When explaining the latest gains, analysts pointed to the ongoing regulatory developments that could impact XRP.
The digital currency has been operating under the shadow of a lawsuit that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed in 2020, which claims that Ripple Labs Inc., along with CEO Bradley Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen, the company’s cofounder, CEO and executive chairman, raised over $1 billion by selling unregistered securities.
Some of the analysts who contributed input for this piece singled out the lawsuit that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently filed involving cryptocurrency exchange Binance, as well as related entities and current and former executives, which described bitcoin, ether and litecoin as commodities, as impacting the price of XRP.
The legal filing, which named Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and former chief compliance officer Samuel Lim, helped fuel hopes that the XRP token would eventually be declared a commodity instead of a security, according to a CoinDesk article.
“The recent CFTC filing does lend some hope that if XRP is characterized as a commodity, rather than a security, then any ongoing hesitation associated with XRP and its pending litigation with the SEC can finally come to an end in favor of both holders and the company,” Andrew Rossow, who is both an attorney and also the founder and CEO of AR Media, said via a Twitter direct message.
He claimed this development has had a bullish impact on investors.
“In this case, I believe the CFTC lawsuit is adding to the positive sentiment that XRP could be a commodity, with many believing the ongoing litigation between Ripple and SEC to soon come to a close,” said Rossow.
Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund manager BitBull Capital, also weighed in on the situation through emailed comments.
“XRP largely moves based on speculations around the SEC case and has recently benefited from the market rally as well as the regulatory actions against entities,” he stated.
“Essentially if all major crypto assets come under regulatory scrutiny, the playing field is somewhat leveled for XRP, which can be considered bullish by some,” DiPasquale clarified.
The market observer seemed less sure about the impact of the CFTC’s recent legal action, however.
When asked whether this lawsuit fueled XRP’s recent gains, he said the following:
“Unsure if there is a direct correlation, but an aggressive stance from regulators against the broader industry does make XRP look more acceptable,” said DiPasquale, meaning that “the shadow of the SEC doesn’t appear as damning anymore.”
Regardless, government agencies aren’t doing the crypto industry any favors through their current regulatory approach, said Rossow.
“We are still seeing regulators ‘teach’ through enforcement, rather than simply being clear and concise about what they expect,” he stated.
Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether, EOS and sol.
