Whale Alert reported on January 1st that a total of 1 billion Ripple (XRP) tokens were released from escrow accounts. The tokens were unlocked from unknown accounts rather than directly from Ripple’s escrow accounts. This was unusual.
According to Bithomp, these 500 million (1B) XRP coins that were unlocked are held at addresses that are owned by Ripple. The tokens are still in these wallets and have not been moved to exchanges or other on-demand liquidity (ODL) websites.
The release of XRP tokens did not appear to have any immediate impact on the cryptocurrency’s price. According to Coinmarketcap, XRP is currently trading at $0.3376 and has seen a 2% drop in value over the past 24 hours and nearly a 3% decline in the past week.
To potentially see an increase in value, it will need to surpass the $0.3454 price level. If this is achieved, the next target would be the first significant resistance level at $0.3543. If it could return to the $0.35 price level, it could indicate a positive trend.
If XRP experiences a sustained increase in value, the next resistance level to watch for would be the second major resistance level at $0.3664.
If it fails to exceed the $0.3454 pivot point, it could encounter support at $0.3333. Unless there is a significant drop in value, it is unlikely that Ripple’s price would fall below $0.3250.
Nevertheless, any decisions made by the court in the SEC’s legal case against Ripple would likely impact the support and resistance levels previously mentioned. These levels may no longer be relevant or may shift as a result of the court’s ruling.
Ripple (XRP) Vs. SEC Lawsuit
Investors have been on edge due to the absence of updates from the SEC’s legal dispute against Ripple. The XRP community, as well as other crypto investors, await the decisions of two judicial bodies which will decide the outcome of this litigation.
Recent court filings against Avraham Eisenberg by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) refer to two cryptocurrencies, CRV and MNGO, as commodities rather than securities. The attorneys for the DoJ never mention securities law offenses or refer to cryptocurrency as securities.
DOJ has reportedly concluded that neither Ripple nor its XRP should be considered securities. This view differs from that of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who oversees the legal case against Ripple and believes that most cryptocurrencies should be classified as securities.
Suppose Ripple were to win its legal case against the SEC. In that case, it could have significant implications for the regulatory agency and potentially mark the end of the downturn in the cryptocurrency market.
The recent decline in Ripple’s value may be due to investor uncertainty and concerns about the potential for the SEC to emerge victorious in the case. While some investors hope for a positive outcome for Ripple, others may consider the possibility of the SEC winning too risky.
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