Although Ripple (XRP) is one of the largest and best-known cryptocurrencies on the market, it has not really been able to benefit from the long-lasting bullish sentiment in recent weeks and months. Although the price rose briefly last November to a value of over 0.71 US dollars, this price did not last long.
Since the beginning of the current month, XRP has also had to face strong price corrections, which appear to be ushering in a longer-lasting trend. The XRP price lost a whopping 11.01% in the last 7 days alone. This means that XRP also joins the current price trend of altcoins, almost all of which have seen a double-digit price decline in the last few weeks. But why is Ripple Labs ‘ native crypto token currently in free fall and is now the best time to sell your own XRP investments?
More price corrections for XRP in the coming days
In fact, the sharp price fall for XRP began on January 3rd, when the Ripple price was reduced by almost 12% within a few hours. A look at the current monthly chart (see image below) also shows that the XRP token has recorded a loss of 17.30% in the last 30 days alone – a particularly painful price loss for all XRP investors. So, at the time of publishing this article, XRP is trading at a price of $0.5106.
The Ripple (XRP) price of the last 30 days (Source: CoinMarketCap)
In addition, there are currently hardly any support levels on the XRP chart that could noticeably prevent the price from falling. The next important level is $0.47, which has acted as a recovery level three times in the recent past. It can therefore be assumed that XRP could fall to this level again before an initial recovery occurs.
At the same time, the ongoing legal problems are likely to have a lasting negative impact on the XRP price. Ripple Labs has been in several legal disputes with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years. Although the crypto company has already won initial partial successes in court, the outcome of the ongoing proceedings is uncertain. Investors are correspondingly cautious at the moment, as they apparently want to wait for the end of these legal proceedings.
However, if – as some crypto experts expect – the case is decided in favor of Ripple Labs, this could create enormous buying pressure and catapult the XRP price to a level of over $0.60 within a few days.
Rumors about XRP spot ETFs continue
After Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, initially gave evasive comments in an interview about possible planned XRP spot ETFs, speculation about corresponding applications began. However, it now seems as if these speculations were unfounded, as several sources have already claimed that there will be no such requests from BlackRock, at least in the near future. The reasons for this can be found in the legal proceedings.
SCOOP: @BlackRock has no plans for a spot $XRP ETF, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter story developing
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) January 18, 2024
However, new rumors about XRP ETFs were recently sparked after the US financial institution Gemini posted three cryptic tweets on the social media platform X that were exclusively about XRP.
Many members of the crypto community interpreted this as some sort of hidden message for upcoming XRP spot ETF applications.
XRP Is The Crypto Of 2024 🫡 pic.twitter.com/iVoCnl7ffF
— The Bearable Bull (@thebearablebull) January 22, 2024
Gemini has now also explained the tweets. The official X account announced that Gemini will soon offer XRP perpetuals and does not appear to have any plans for XRP ETFs.
However, even speculation could not prevent the XRP price from continuing to fall. XRP lost 6.11% of its value in the last 24 hours alone and is in a particularly strong downward candle at the time of publishing this article.
However, the news that the first applications for an XRP spot ETF have been submitted could actually reignite the hype around the cryptocurrency. This has already been shown in the past, when, in addition to the Bitcoin spot ETFs that have now been approved, applications for Ethereum spot ETFs were also submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. However, it is unlikely that such applications will be submitted in the coming weeks or even months.
SEC vs. Ripple – The legal battle continues
At the moment it is difficult to make an XRP forecast because the legal dispute with the SEC is causing the price of the cryptocurrency to stagnate. The first partial successes in court were able to strengthen the trust of current investors, but until a conclusion is reached, institutional investors in particular are likely to be cautious.
However, this could take even more time than planned, because after the SEC recently submitted a request for the disclosure of certain data to the US court, Ripple Labs’ lawyers came forward last Friday and asked Judge Sarah Netburn to do so reject the claim.
The SEC would like to gain insights into already audited financial reports from 2022 and 2023 and information about which contracts have been concluded since the lawsuit regarding the sale of XRP began. At the same time, Ripple Labs is supposed to fill out a detailed questionnaire that would reveal details about the “ amount of institutional XRP sales revenue .”
The Ripple lawyers believe this is not legal because such requests should have been made a long time ago and, in their opinion, only serve to buy more time. At the same time they argue:
“Second, the SEC failed to substantiate each of its motions on the merits. They are irrelevant: the information requested by the SEC has no bearing on the court’s decision on remedial action.”
The situation currently appears to be extremely deadlocked, with Ripple Labs in particular suffering from the accusations. XRP has barely seen any growth in recent years, precisely because of these ongoing legal proceedings. It therefore remains to be seen exactly how the courts will decide and whether there will be an early agreement or legal ruling or whether the legal proceedings will drag on. If the latter is the case, XRP could need months or even years before it settles at a higher price level.
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