XRP Price Jumps As Ripple Leadership Blasts SEC’s ‘Hypocritical’ Crypto Regulation

The XRP price has climbed by over 4% within the last 24 hours, extending its bullish trend observed over the past month. This increase propelled the token to a four-month peak of $0.6377 early on Tuesday, outperforming the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the market.

However, this recent surge in value coincides with strong criticism from key Ripple executives, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse and the company’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty, directed at the leadership of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

As Bitcoinist reported early Tuesday, the SEC amended its complaint against the world’s largest exchange, Binance, specifically adjusting the classification of 10 cryptocurrencies, such as Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), and Cosmos (ATOM), that were initially deemed as “securities.”

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, responded to this development by emphasizing the SEC’s perceived “hypocrisy” in the classification of crypto tokens and its management of crypto regulations over the past year under the guidance of Chair Gary Gensler. 

Garlinghouse criticized the SEC for what he sees as a lack of clarity in the consistent application of rules, suggesting possible political agendas or questionable litigation tactics. “Definitely not faithful allegiance to the law,” Garlinghouse said. 

Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s CLO, also weighed in on the situation, pointing out apparent inconsistencies between the lawsuits involving Binance and the US-based crypto exchange Coinbase, both initiated around the same period in the last quarter of 2023.

Alderoty highlighted the SEC’s response to judicial scrutiny in the Binance case compared to its stance in the Coinbase lawsuit, particularly regarding the classification of tokens, in which twelve cryptocurrencies, most of which were also included in the Binance case, were also deemed securities. 

Despite XRP not being implicated in the recent SEC decision, its price continues to surge following a 33% uptrend over the past month. The sustained momentum fueled by bullish investors suggests a potential push towards the $1 threshold.

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez notes that XRP’s price has been consolidating within a symmetrical triangle pattern for six years. Martinez anticipates a bullish breakout if XRP surpasses the $0.90 mark, especially in light of the ongoing recovery from a significant dip that drove the token to a 17-month low of $0.3825 on July 5.

However, a critical event looms on August 1 when Ripple Labs is scheduled to release 1 billion XRP from its escrow account, which this influx of supply could potentially outstrip demand, leading to a subsequent decline for the XRP price if market interest fails to materialize.

The key will be to watch the $0.5353 level, where the token’s 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) currently resides, which could act as a notable support in the scenario of a further decline following Ripple’s token release.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com