XRP, the payments cryptocurrency developed by the company Ripple, has suddenly rocketed higher, leaving bitcoin, ethereum and other major coins in the dust.
The XRP price has jumped almost 10% over the last 24 hours after a positive development for Ripple in its long-running legal case with the U.S. financial regulator.
Meanwhile, bitcoin, ethereum and other top ten cryptocurrencies BNB, solana, cardano, Terra’s luna and avalanche have more or less traded sideways with the bitcoin price dropping back under the closely-watched $40,000 per bitcoin level.
On Friday, a document was filed in the legal battle between Ripple, two of its executives and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the judge allowing Ripple to use a “fair notice defense”—meaning Ripple can claim the regulator failed to inform it that its XRP sales could potentially violate U.S. financial laws.
“Today’s order makes it clear there’s a serious question whether the SEC ever provided Ripple with fair notice that its distributions of XRP—since 2013—would ever be prohibited under the securities law,” Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s general counsel, said via Twitter, adding: “Good to see the judge rejecting the SEC’s attempt to prevent Ripple from pursuing its fair notice defense.”
Ripple and the XRP price have struggled over the last year due to the SEC lawsuit. The SEC accused Ripple of selling XRP as unregistered security before launching action early last year.
The SEC filed against Ripple, its chief executive Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, alleging the sale of $1.3 billion worth of XRP by Ripple and its executives between 2013 and 2020 broke SEC rules.
“We’re expecting some decisions from the court, you know, sooner rather than later as it relates to a couple of decisions before the court but, look, it’s moved slowly,” Garlinghouse told Fox News earlier this month.
Judge Torres also denied Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and cofounder Chris Larsen’s motion to dismiss the SEC’s individual charges against them.
The crypto community has long called for regulations to be made clearer, with many expecting an influx of companies and investors into the space once that happens.
“We surely need some regulatory clarity in this space in order for institutions to become involved,” Scott Sheridan, the chief executive of trading platform Tastyworks said in emailed comments. “Once we have that clarity and greater market participation, it opens a world of possibilities.”