XRP buoyant above $2 as court grants Ripple breathing space in SEC lawsuit
- A US appellate court temporarily paused the SEC-Ripple case for 60 days, holding the appeal in abeyance.
- The SEC is expected to file a status report by June 15, signaling a potential end to the four-year legal battle.
- XRP holds dearly to support at $2.00, with an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern hinting at a 27% breakout to $2.78.
Ripple (XRP) stabilized above $2.00, as bulls worked to reshape the weekly outlook hoping for a 27% breakout if an inverse head and shoulders pattern is confirmed. The renewed push for a bullish outcome comes after a US appellate court granted a 60-day temporary pause in the case between Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Ripple gets breathing space as court freezes appeal proceedings
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit approved a joint SEC-Ripple motion to hold the appeal against Ripple in abeyance amid ongoing settlement negotiations for 60 days on Wednesday.
No further briefs are expected; however, the SEC must submit a status report by June 15. This marks a major development in winding up the case, affirming that both parties have agreed in principle ahead of the Commission's final approval.
Ripple has room to breathe, signaling that a final resolution could be on the horizon, which could set a major regulatory precedent. The crypto community will be watching closely, especially with reports of a settlement agreement.
According to a Reuters article published on March 26, "Ripple Labs agreed to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit over the alleged sale of unregistered securities and pay just $50 million of a previously imposed $125 million fine."
Ripple's Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, confirmed the settlement in an X post, adding that the SEC would keep $50 million of the $125 million penalty US District Judge Analisa Torres imposed on the company in August. The money is currently being held in an interest-earning escrow account.
As reported by FXStreet on Wednesday, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed reaching an agreement with the SEC staff, pending approval by the agency's commissioners.
Cryptocurrency prices FAQs
Token launches influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.
A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.
Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence crypto assets mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.
Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs.
XRP could renew the bid for a 27% breakout
XRP price stalled in the quest to break a confluence resistance highlighted in a previous analysis at $2.25, resulting in a sudden pullback that tested the critical $2.00 support level on Wednesday. Although the crypto market has shown resilience amid the extended tariffs and trade wars launched by US President Donald Trump, including a 245% tariff on China, investors are jittery about the short-term and long-term economic outlook. XRP faces a significant decline in bullish momentum.
An inverse head-and-shoulders pattern on the four-hour chart below hints at a potential 27% breakout to $2.78 if resistance at $2.20 (pattern neckline) is broken. This target represents the distance between the neckline and the inverted head, extrapolated above the breakout point.
XRP/USD 4-hour chart
It is worth pointing out that XRP faces immediate hurdles at the 50-day and the 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA), holding at $2.07 and $2.09, respectively. Investor confidence will likely improve if XRP flips these two levels into support, paving the way for movement beyond the 200-day EMA at $2.16 and the neckline resistance at $2.20.
Bulls must remain focused to achieve short-term goals like validating the inverse head and shoulders breakout; otherwise, they risk being overshadowed by potential sell-side pressure based on the downward-sloping Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator at 46.37. Moreover, a sell signal in the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator may encourage more traders to flip bearish, supported by red histograms. Downside risks below $2.00 could be projected to $1.96, a resistance on April 8 turned into a support level, and $1.75, an anchor level tested on April 9.
Ripple FAQs
Ripple is a payments company that specializes in cross-border remittance. The company does this by leveraging blockchain technology. RippleNet is a network used for payments transfer created by Ripple Labs Inc. and is open to financial institutions worldwide. The company also leverages the XRP token.
XRP is the native token of the decentralized blockchain XRPLedger. The token is used by Ripple Labs to facilitate transactions on the XRPLedger, helping financial institutions transfer value in a borderless manner. XRP therefore facilitates trustless and instant payments on the XRPLedger chain, helping financial firms save on the cost of transacting worldwide.
XRPLedger is based on a distributed ledger technology and the blockchain using XRP to power transactions. The ledger is different from other blockchains as it has a built-in inflammatory protocol that helps fight spam and distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks. The XRPL is maintained by a peer-to-peer network known as the global XRP Ledger community.
XRP uses the interledger standard. This is a blockchain protocol that aids payments across different networks. For instance, XRP’s blockchain can connect the ledgers of two or more banks. This effectively removes intermediaries and the need for centralization in the system. XRP acts as the native token of the XRPLedger blockchain engineered by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz.
Author
John Isige
FXStreet
John Isige is a seasoned cryptocurrency journalist and markets analyst committed to delivering high-quality, actionable insights tailored to traders, investors, and crypto enthusiasts. He enjoys deep dives into emerging Web3 tren
