San-Francisco-based fintech firm Ripple has responded to the Securities and Exchange Commission, resulting in a surge of over 100% for its XRP token prices. It was helped a little by Redditors pumping the asset as they previously have with GME stock and Dogecoin.
Ripple has had a tumultuous few months during its legal battle with the U.S. financial regulators. Charges were brought against the company in December when the SEC accused it of an unlicensed securities sale for XRP.
In the weeks that followed, XRP prices slumped over 70%, bottoming out below $0.20 by the end of December. Several crypto exchanges delisted the token for fear of a regulatory clampdown, and even institutional fund Grayscale disbanded its XRP trust.
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Ripple fights back
Ripple responded to the SEC on January 29 with a document claiming that the token is a currency and not a security.
“XRP functions as a medium of exchange – a virtual currency used today in international and domestic transactions – moving value between jurisdictions and facilitating transactions. It is not a security and the SEC has no authority to regulate it as one.”
High-level executives have also been offloading their XRP bags, but the token bounced this weekend, doubling in price to top out at $0.58, according to Coingecko.com.
The price pump has also been assisted by the same Reddit traders grouped that shilled GameStop stock and Dogecoin late last week. XRP and DOGE are still the top two best-performing assets on crypto markets over the past 24 hours.
Elsewhere on crypto markets
Bitcoin has been relatively flat over the weekend, hovering between $32,500 and $34,500, the former price now forming a support level. Aside from a spike over $38K late on Friday, it has started to consolidate around this price zone, holding above $30K for the best part of January.
Rock legend and KISS frontman Gene Simmons is also now tweeting about Bitcoin and crypto joining a growing number of high profile celebrities and investors;
Ethereum has also had an inactive weekend but it has mostly held above $1,300 which is bullish for further gains.
Most of the altcoins are falling back a little during Monday’s Asian trading session, but those still printing a gain over the past day include Binance Coin, Stellar, Dogecoin, EOS, and Tron.
On Sunday 31, Uniswap’s UNI token hit an all-time high of $20 as it moves to thirteenth place in terms of market capitalization.
