Ripple’s XRP has become the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, overtaking popular tokens such as Solana, USDT and Binance Coin, as a new era of crypto-friendly politics begins to take shape in Washington, DC.
On Monday, XRP climbed a whopping 40% in 24 hours, hitting $2.80 for the first time in seven years. The coin has attracted more than $120 billion in new investment and reached a market cap of $156 billion since Donald Trump and a host of other crypto-friendly candidates won the Nov. 5 election.
The rise in XRP’s price comes amid signs that the legal pressure that has dogged Ripple for years will ease. First of all, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler—who has been a major opponent of the crypto industry—announced his resignation, and experts predict that the agency will likely drop a number of lawsuits Trump is about to take office.
Those lawsuits include the SEC’s long-running case against Ripple, which is currently making its way through an appeals court after a judge unilateral with Ripple in August, fining the company $2 billion less than the SEC originally sought. The SEC filed a lawsuit in 2020, accusing Ripple of illegally raising money by selling XRP without registering it as a security.
The jump in XRP price also comes as investors are betting on the future of Ripple’s products. Fox job reported that the company’s long-awaited stablecoin, RLUSDit is ready for regulatory approval in New York as early as December 4. Also fueling sentiment around XRP is speculation that an XRP exchange-traded fund, like those already approved for Bitcoin and Ethereum, is on the way.
While Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged in the immediate aftermath of the election, XRP has lagged behind until recently. The currency remained flat for most of the year, stuck between 40 cents and 60 cents before breaking out earlier this month.
The broader crypto market is up $1.2 trillion since Election Day, and investors expect those gains to continue into next year as Trump makes good on his campaign promises make America is the “crypto capital of the planet”. The president-elect has backed a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a crypto advisory council. He is too allegedly considering creating a White House role dedicated specifically to cryptocurrency policy that industry leaders hope will serve as a direct line to the president.
