The native Ripple token, XRP (pronounced “x-rp”), suffered a major decline on Thursday of more than 12%, falling to just 51 cents a coin. This was due to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which announced that it would appeal an important court decision.
The cryptocurrency industry has won a significant victory with this ruling. It was delivered in the first half of 2018.
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The SEC has taken a new step that raises questions for Ripple, and even the crypto market in general, despite the positive ruling of US District Judge Analisa Torres, last summer. This decision ended a three-year long legal fight.
SEC views XRP sold to institutional investors as unregistered securities offering, even though XRP is compliant when sold to retail investors.
Ripple did not comment publicly on this situation, but referred instead to comments made on social media by Brad Garlinghouse (CEO) and Stuart Alderoty (Chief Legal Officer), both of whom were on the platform X.
Alderoty said that Ripple was considering a cross appeal and expressed his disappointment at the SEC decision. He described it as “not unexpected.”
The SEC, under Gary Gensler as chair, has been criticized for not providing clear guidance on regulatory issues, and for often relying instead on enforcement measures.
“XRP’s status as a non-security is the law of the land today, and that does not change even in the face of this misguided–and infuriating–appeal,” Garlinghouse stated on X.
Gensler, and SEC if they were rationale, would have moved past this case long before. The SEC’s credibility has been damaged and it hasn’t helped investors. They still don’t seem to get the message.
Bitwise Asset Management filed for what may be the world’s first XRP Exchange-Traded Fund. This was just two days following the registration of an XRP Trust Product in Delaware.
Grayscale is known for their Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In September they launched a trust product similar to this, signaling XRP’s growing institutional appeal.
XRP was created by Ripple founders and operates on an open-source XRP Ledger that facilitates international payments.
XRP is currently the fifth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. This excludes stablecoins such as Tether (USDT), and USD Coins (USDC).
Bitcoin was trading around $60210.29 while Ether dropped over 2%, to $2320.20.
Coinbase, MicroStrategy, and other crypto stocks also saw slight drops, falling by approximately 1% each.
As new information becomes available, this post XRP plunges 12% after SEC appeals historic ruling in Ripple Case may change.
