XRP stuck below $0.50 while SEC abandons demand for $2 billion penalty

• Ripple Chief Legal Officer says that SEC seems to have abandoned its “absurd demand” of a $2 billion penalty.
• The SEC’s latest reply to the judge suggests a fine of around $100 million, above the $10 million ceiling that Ripple considers fair.
• XRP trades broadly steady on Monday, facing sticky resistance at $0.50. 

XRP struggles to make a comeback above sticky resistance at $0.50 on Monday as traders continue to assess the legal skirmishes between blockchain firm Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  

Ripple’s lawyers have asked the judge to consider a civil penalty of around $10 million by drawing parallels with the recent settlement amount for Terraform Labs, another crypto firm embroiled in a legal battle with the SEC. The SEC responded to Ripple’s counter and quoted a $102.6 million figure instead, far lower than the previously requested $2 billion for allegedly violating securities laws.

Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said on Saturday that, by looking at the SEC’s counter letter to the judge, the regulator “seems to have abandoned its absurd demand for $2 billion.”  

Daily digest market movers: Ripple CLO responds to SEC take on $2 billion fine

• The SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit has dragged on since 2020. The US financial regulator and the payment remittance firm are arguing on the fine to be paid for the alleged violation of securities laws, with the SEC asking for $2 billion in penalties and XRP for $10 million.
• In the most recent reply to Ripple’s letter, the US regulator has quoted $102.6 million by comparing the recent deal struck between the SEC and Terraform Labs. Still, about this figure, the SEC also said: “That low of a penalty would not satisfy the purposes of the civil penalty statutes,” signaling that it does not seem willing to accept a similar deal. 
• Ripple’s CLO Stuart Alderoty commented on the SEC's reply letter and noted that the regulator seems to have abandoned the “absurd demand” for $2 billion.

• Alderoty comments on the SEC’s argument that “Ripple accepts nothing,” referring to the alleged securities violation. Ripple had drawn parallels between the SEC’s lawsuit against the firm and the one against Terraform Labs and its founders. 
• The regulator pointed out that Terraform Labs went “out of business for good,” and several factors accounted for the fine, which was 1.27% of gross sales. According to the SEC, the same does not apply to Ripple, given the firm “accepts nothing,” meaning it does not recognize or acknowledge securities law violations.  

Technical analysis: XRP struggles to break sticky resistance at $0.50

Ripple wiped out nearly 2% of its value last week while attempting to recover from its decline on Monday. The altcoin hasn’t been able to break past resistance at $0.50, failing to close above this level nearly all days during last week. 

XRP trades at $0.4905, inching closer to testing the $0.50 resistance on the daily time frame. The XRP/USDT chart below shows red histogram bars below the neutral line on the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator, supporting the recent decline in Ripple’s token. 

The MACD implies there is underlying negative momentum in Ripple’s price trend. If it corrects further, XRP could find support at the April 19 low of $0.4665. 

XRP/USDT 1-day chart 

If Ripple sees a daily candlestick close above $0.50, it could invalidate the bearish thesis. In this scenario, the next resistance is at the June 5 high of $0.5326.