XRP recovers amid Ripple stablecoin test, optimism over SEC lawsuit ruling

Testing of Ripple stablecoin RLUSD begins on the Ethereum mainnet and XRP Ledger.
Ripple legal head Stuart Alderoty comments on SEC appeal and final ruling in lawsuit.
XRP adds 3% on the day, eyeing a comeback to the psychologically important $0.60 level.

Ripple (XRP) recovers on Monday, almost erasing Sunday’s losses, as the payment-remittance firm begins testing its stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) on the Ethereum mainnet and XRP Ledger. Ripple is awaiting regulatory approval on its stablecoin, so RLUSD is currently in private beta.

The gains in the token came after Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Stuart Alderoty commented on the recent lawsuit ruling between the firm and the US Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC), namely over whether an appeal is likely to be filed by the regulator.

XRP trades at $0.5726 at the time of writing.

Daily Digest Market Movers: Ripple tests stablecoin, CLO comments on SEC lawsuit

Ripple stablecoin is in private beta and the payment remittance firm has started testing the asset on the Ethereum mainnet and XRP Ledger. The firm informed in an official tweet on X that the stablecoin project has not received regulatory approval yet and RLUSD is not available for purchase or trading.

Testing, testing…RLUSD! We’re excited to share that Ripple USD (RLUSD) is now in private beta on XRP Ledger and Ethereum mainnet. RLUSD has not yet received regulatory approval and therefore is not available for purchase or trading – please be cautious of scammers who claim they…
— Ripple (@Ripple) August 9, 2024

XRP holders and traders digested the news of the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit ruling, in which the judge imposed a $125 million fine to the firm for violating federal securities laws. The judge ruled Ripple’s sale of XRP to institutions as a violation of the law.
There were no comments or references about the XRP ruling from July 2023, where the altcoin gained legal clarity as a non-security in secondary markets or exchange platforms.
Both parties considered the final verdict as their win since the fine was twelve times higher than what Ripple had proposed (making it favorable for SEC, since Ripple was willing to pay $10 million and the fine was $125 million). Ripple finds it favorable since XRP legal clarity remained intact and the fine was reduced from SEC's ask of over $2 billion.
It remains to be seen whether the financial regulator will appeal the final verdict or XRP security status.
Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s CLO said in an interview with CNBC that the SEC has sixty days to decide whether it will appeal the lawsuit ruling.

Great chat w/ @KenzieSigalos @CNBC about the final judgment in SEC v Ripple. If this Admin is serious about a “reset,” it must act NOW to end the SEC’s misguided war on crypto.https://t.co/gkRNSBKVZT
— Stuart Alderoty (@s_alderoty) August 9, 2024

Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terret said that the SEC is likely to appeal Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling on XRP’s non-security status in secondary markets.

Technical analysis: XRP posts 3% gains

Ripple, which trades at $0.5734 at the time of writing, is in a multi-month downward trend. . If Monday’s momentum persists, XRP could rally towards $0.6217, extending its gains by 8.57% towards the July 31 low. Still, to achieve this target the altcoin faces resistance at $0.60, a psychologically important level for Ripple.

Looking down, Ripple could find support in the Fair Value Gap (FVG) between $0.5188 and $0.5785, the upper and lower boundaries of the imbalance zone.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator shows underlying negative momentum in the altcoin’s price trend.

XRP/USDT daily chart

A daily candlestick close under $0.5785 could invalidate the bullish thesis for the altcoin. In the event of a correction, XRP could sweep liquidity in the FVG.

SEC vs Ripple lawsuit FAQs

Is XRP a security?

It depends on the transaction, according to a court ruling released on July 14: For institutional investors or over-the-counter sales, XRP is a security. For retail investors who bought the token via programmatic sales on exchanges, on-demand liquidity services and other platforms, XRP is not a security.

How does the ruling affect Ripple in its legal battle against the SEC?

The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Ripple and its executives of raising more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered asset offering of the XRP token. While the judge ruled that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, sales of XRP tokens to institutional investors are indeed investment contracts. In this last case, Ripple did breach the US securities law and will need to keep litigating over the around $729 million it received under written contracts.

What are the implications of the ruling for the overall crypto industry?

The ruling offers a partial win for both Ripple and the SEC, depending on what one looks at. Ripple gets a big win over the fact that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, and this could bode well for the broader crypto sector as most of the assets eyed by the SEC’s crackdown are handled by decentralized entities that sold their tokens mostly to retail investors via exchange platforms, experts say. Still, the ruling doesn’t help much to answer the key question of what makes a digital asset a security, so it isn’t clear yet if this lawsuit will set precedent for other open cases that affect dozens of digital assets. Topics such as which is the right degree of decentralization to avoid the “security” label or where to draw the line between institutional and programmatic sales are likely to persist.

Is the SEC stance toward crypto assets likely to change after the ruling?

The SEC has stepped up its enforcement actions toward the blockchain and digital assets industry, filing charges against platforms such as Coinbase or Binance for allegedly violating the US Securities law. The SEC claims that the majority of crypto assets are securities and thus subject to strict regulation. While defendants can use parts of Ripple’s ruling in their favor, the SEC can also find reasons in it to keep its current strategy of regulation by enforcement.

Can the court ruling be overturned?

The court decision is a partial summary judgment. The ruling can be appealed once a final judgment is issued or if the judge allows it before then. The case is in a pretrial phase, in which both Ripple and the SEC still have the chance to settle.

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