Recently, the cryptocurrency market has welcomed multiple favorable developments, and as an established public chain, Ripple Coin (XRP) has become the focus of the market. The news that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is about to step down has ignited market expectations for a more friendly regulatory environment.
At the same time, Ripple's long-standing legal disputes with the SEC are also expected to come to a resolution, with court rulings repeatedly sending positive signals to Ripple, clearing some developmental obstacles for XRP. This series of favorable developments has propelled XRP's price to a strong rebound, soaring over 250% in just one month, with a single-day increase exceeding 35%, reaching a new high in nearly three years and reigniting investor enthusiasm.
As one of the pioneers in the blockchain field, XRP has focused on cross-border payment scenarios since its launch in 2012, favored by financial institutions for its efficiency, low cost, and technological innovation.
However, the growth path of this classic token has not been smooth, facing pressures from market competition and frequent setbacks due to regulatory disputes. Now, with the regulatory environment gradually shifting and market confidence being boosted, XRP appears to be seizing this historic opportunity to redefine its future market positioning. As a veteran in the cryptocurrency field, can XRP once again open an innovative path and lead the future of blockchain payments? Let's explore.
01. Regulatory benefits: SEC revenge concept coin XRP hits a three-year high
With the conclusion of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump was elected as the next president with a high vote count. During the campaign, Trump promised to make the U.S. the 'global cryptocurrency capital' and strongly support the cryptocurrency industry. This position undoubtedly brought significant confidence to the market, driving the prices of several cryptocurrencies, including XRP, to rise. In this wave of market recovery, XRP, dubbed the 'revenge concept coin,' has welcomed a turning point, reaching a three-year high and becoming the focus of investor attention. However, XRP's rise is not only due to Trump's campaign promises but also stems from a series of changes in the regulatory environment and key progress in Ripple's four-year difficult litigation with the SEC.
Regulatory changes bring catalysts to the market
Since the end of 2020, Ripple has been sued by the SEC for allegedly raising funds through unregistered securities, facing four years of regulatory pressure on XRP. The SEC accused Ripple of issuing XRP since 2013, raising $1.3 billion, and deemed its actions a violation of securities laws. This lawsuit not only caused a significant drop in XRP's price but also forced multiple exchanges to suspend XRP trading, severely impacting market confidence.
However, as the legal disputes approach resolution in 2024, XRP has welcomed a long-awaited turning point. In 2023 and 2024, the rulings made by New York Federal Judge Analisa Torres brought important breakthroughs for Ripple. She ruled that Ripple's sale of XRP to retail investors did not violate securities laws, while the sales to institutional investors were deemed illegal, requiring Ripple to pay a fine of $125 million. This ruling is significantly lower than the SEC's initial demand for a $2 billion fine and leaves room for Ripple's future operations. More importantly, this judgment has released signals to the market regarding XRP's future development, alleviating excessive concerns about regulatory issues.
The new SEC chairman may bring more benefits to XRP
Another important factor driving XRP's recovery is the news of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's resignation. Gensler has been one of the most controversial regulators in the cryptocurrency industry in recent years, and his stringent regulatory policies have plunged many cryptocurrency projects into difficulties. However, with Gensler set to resign in January 2025, market expectations for the new SEC chairman have soared. Many anticipate that the new SEC leadership may adopt a more lenient and friendly stance towards the cryptocurrency industry, bringing hope for XRP and other projects that have been under regulatory pressure.
(The Washington Post) reported that Trump's advisory team is evaluating several SEC chairman candidates, many of whom have publicly supported cryptocurrencies in the past. The market generally believes that these candidates may adopt a more friendly stance on cryptocurrency regulatory policies. If the new SEC chairman really pushes for a policy shift as expected, Ripple's lawsuit may see a settlement or even be dismissed, leading to a fundamental change in the regulatory environment for the entire cryptocurrency industry. For previously suppressed projects like Ripple, Binance, Coinbase, etc., this is undoubtedly a significant policy benefit.
Ripple changes the litigation dilemma through political action
Ripple's 'revenge path' relies not only on changes in law and regulation but also on its active investment in the political arena as part of its strategy. According to CoinDesk, Ripple Labs has injected $25 million into the Fairshake Political Action Committee (PAC) in the cryptocurrency industry, aiming to influence the 2026 U.S. congressional elections and promote more cryptocurrency-friendly regulatory policies. This move marks the company's beginning to leverage political means to attempt to reverse its litigation predicament with the SEC through policy reforms and to seek more favorable legal and regulatory environments for XRP.
Moreover, reports from Reuters indicate that several cryptocurrency companies, including Ripple (such as Circle, Kraken, Coinbase, a16z, Paradigm, etc.), are vying for seats on the cryptocurrency advisory committee proposed by Trump. This committee will become an important platform for cryptocurrency policy reform, and companies involved will have the opportunity to directly influence future policy directions, especially under the cryptocurrency-friendly policy framework promoted by the Trump administration. If Ripple can secure a position in this process, it will be able to gain more support for XRP at the policy level, thus gaining more freedom in the future regulatory environment.
02. XRP: Innovator of Traditional Financial Payment Systems
In the past few decades, the global financial payment system has been dominated by traditional banking settlement and payment methods. Although these systems have certain advantages in terms of stability and security, as globalization deepens and e-commerce rapidly develops, traditional financial payment systems have exposed a series of pain points that need to be addressed.
High transaction costs, inefficient payment processing speeds, and the complexity and high costs of cross-border payments have become bottlenecks hindering global financial liquidity and market development. To address these issues, Ripple has launched XRP and the XRP Ledger, leveraging its innovative technical architecture and unique business model to rapidly emerge as an important force driving the reform of traditional financial payment systems.
What are XRP and Ripple?
XRP is the native cryptocurrency of the Ripple network and is one of the core technologies designed by Ripple to address the pain points of the global payment system. Unlike traditional payment methods such as bank transfers and SWIFT, XRP provides a new solution for global payments through blockchain technology.
Ripple has greatly improved transaction speed and reduced costs through its innovative Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA) and decentralized XRP Ledger, providing the ability to make payments across borders and connect different currencies. XRP essentially serves as a bridging currency, enabling efficient and low-cost exchanges between different fiat currencies and providing a smoother path for global payments and cross-border settlements.
Ripple, a technology company dedicated to driving innovation in the financial system, was founded in 2012 by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb. The original goal of Ripple was to transform the existing financial payment system through blockchain technology, particularly to address the high costs and inefficiencies in traditional banking settlement systems.
Ripple's vision is not just to establish a new cryptocurrency but more importantly, to create a decentralized and global financial network, connecting banks, payment service providers, and financial institutions worldwide through RippleNet to achieve faster, cheaper, and more efficient payments and transactions.
XRP's technical advantages: efficiency, low cost, and high throughput
One of XRP's biggest advantages is the technology architecture of XRP Ledger (XRPL) that it employs. Unlike traditional blockchain projects like Bitcoin and Ethereum, XRP adopts a unique consensus mechanism, namely the Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA).
This algorithm does not rely on traditional proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanisms but achieves consensus through a set of independent validator nodes, ensuring the validity of transactions. This design allows the XRP network to complete transaction verification within seconds, and transaction fees are relatively low, usually only 0.00001 XRP, significantly reducing the high transaction fees and time delays commonly seen in traditional financial payments.
Compared to Bitcoin's transaction processing speed of only 7 transactions per second, the XRP Ledger can achieve speeds of up to 1500 transactions per second, and with ongoing technological optimizations, future throughput is expected to further increase.
This efficient transaction processing capability has made XRP an ideal choice for cross-border payments and fund transfers, especially in scenarios requiring quick settlements and large payments, where XRP exhibits unmatched advantages.
The role of XRP in the global payment system: innovation in cross-border payments
One of XRP's core advantages is its ability to provide efficient and low-cost payment solutions between different countries and regions, especially in the field of cross-border payments. Traditional cross-border payments often rely on multiple intermediary banks and complex settlement processes, which not only increase the time cost of transactions but also make payment fees exorbitant.
According to data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), traditional cross-border payments typically take 2 to 3 business days, and fees usually range from 5% to 10% of the payment amount. This inefficient and costly payment method has become a bottleneck in global financial transactions and business activities.
XRP has fundamentally changed this situation through its innovative On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) technology. The ODL technology allows users to make instant cross-border payments using XRP as a bridging currency without pre-funding. For example, when a business wants to transfer funds from the United States to Japan, traditional methods rely on multiple intermediary banks and may take several days to complete the transaction.
With XRP, users can complete payments within seconds, and the fees are far lower than traditional payment methods. This efficient, convenient, and low-cost payment method greatly enhances the efficiency of global trade and capital flow.
Ripple has gradually established a wide payment network globally through partnerships with numerous banks, payment service providers, and financial institutions. This enables XRP to not only play an important role in the traditional financial sector but also achieve breakthroughs in payment and remittance fields in emerging markets and developing countries, further promoting financial inclusion.
The advantages of Ripple and XRP: A combination of bank cooperation and decentralization
XRP's success in the global payment system is largely attributed to its deep collaboration with traditional banks and financial institutions. Ripple has always adhered to the philosophy of 'cooperating with traditional financial institutions rather than confronting them.' By establishing partnerships with leading financial institutions worldwide, XRP has been rapidly promoted within the existing financial infrastructure. For example, Ripple has engaged in strategic cooperation with several large banks and payment platforms, such as Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, to promote the application of XRP in cross-border payments and settlements.
These partnerships not only enhance XRP's market awareness but also lay a solid foundation for further expanding its suite of financial services.
However, the integration of XRP with the traditional banking system does not mean it has lost its decentralized characteristics. The XRP Ledger is a decentralized public blockchain where anyone can join and become a validating node. This means that even if Ripple as a company no longer exists, the XRP network can continue to operate. The decentralized design ensures that XRP is not controlled by a single entity, which is a key advantage that distinguishes it from traditional financial systems.
In the future, XRP may not be limited to the cross-border payment field; its application potential in emerging areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and asset tokenization is also worth looking forward to. As Ripple continues to strengthen cooperation with global banks and financial institutions and promotes the implementation of XRP in more financial fields, XRP is expected to become an indispensable part of the global payment system and a new type of global currency.
03. From traditional finance to the Web3 industry: Ripple's long-term layout and XRP's future
Although Ripple is a blockchain company, its past focus has primarily been on the traditional financial sector. With the rapid development of global financial technology, the transition from traditional finance to the Web3 industry has become a mainstream trend in the financial market, and Ripple has also begun to gradually lay out its strategies in the Web3 industry.
However, unlike many cryptocurrency projects, Ripple has not limited its focus to the purely digital currency domain, but rather promotes the diversification of its products and services from a broader perspective. Ripple is focusing on decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, and asset tokenization in the Web3 field. It is worth noting that although XRP itself does not have a direct role in Ripple's strategic directions, this long-term layout by Ripple endows XRP with a broader application prospect for the future.
Ripple's robust strategy: Compliance-based expansion into Web3 collaborations
Unlike many cryptocurrency projects that are driven by short-term gains and speculation, Ripple has always adhered to a robust core strategy, dedicated to promoting innovation within a compliant framework. During the four-year litigation with the SEC, Ripple's strategic direction has become increasingly clear, further reinforcing its philosophy of steady development. From initially positioning XRP as a cross-border payment tool to actively laying out plans for Web3 today, Ripple has consistently maintained compliance and closely collaborated with traditional financial institutions. This strategy not only enhances market trust in Ripple but also makes its layout in the Web3 field more forward-looking and sustainable.
In terms of compliance, Ripple has achieved significant accomplishments. The company and its subsidiaries hold nearly 40 U.S. money transmission licenses, a New York BitLicense, a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and a virtual asset service provider (VASP) registration from the Central Bank of Ireland, among other qualifications, ensuring its legal operation in multiple countries and regions. These qualifications provide Ripple with strong compliance guarantees and further enhance its credibility as a global financial service provider.
Ripple's global network of partnerships also provides strong support for its expansion into the Web3 field. The company has established deep cooperation with over 100 banks and financial institutions worldwide, including well-known institutions such as Santander Bank and Mitsubishi Bank. These partnerships not only enhance Ripple's influence in the traditional financial sector but also provide more practical application scenarios for XRP.
In addition, Ripple collaborates with platforms like Archax to actively promote the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), helping traditional financial assets smoothly enter the blockchain ecosystem. At the same time, Ripple is also laying out plans in the field of 'institutional-level DeFi,' creating new opportunities for further cooperation with financial institutions by investing in projects such as tokenized government bonds through partnerships with platforms like OpenEden. Recently, the XRP ETF proposals submitted by companies like Bitwise Asset Management have sparked widespread market attention on Ripple's future potential, further validating its strategic advantages in the integration of Web3 and traditional finance.
XRP and Web3: Challenges and Opportunities in Adaptation to Transformation
Although Ripple has gradually shifted its strategic focus from traditional cross-border payments to the Web3 field, this does not mean that the XRP token can adapt to this transformation without obstacles. Unlike the traditional cross-border payment market, the core values of the Web3 industry lie in decentralization, digital asset liquidity, and smart contract applications, which make XRP's role in Web3 fundamentally different from its role as a bridging currency in cross-border payments. Despite its technological advantages and efficient transaction mechanisms still being noteworthy, XRP faces the biggest challenge in how to closely align with the demands of emerging areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi) in the Web3 ecosystem. To find a new positioning in this emerging field, Ripple must further promote the deep integration of XRP with Web3.
Ripple is expanding the application scenarios of XRP through multiple initiatives and gradually penetrating other key technology areas in the Web3 industry. According to BlockBeats, on November 30, FOX Business cited sources saying that the New York Department of Financial Services has indicated to Ripple that it will approve its launch of a new stablecoin product—RLUSD, which is planned to be officially launched on December 4. In the future, the RLUSD stablecoin will serve as a supplementary tool to XRP, enhancing its role in Ripple's payment solutions. This strategy not only helps consolidate XRP's market position in the payment sector but also opens up new opportunities for its application in Web3. Meanwhile, Ripple is actively promoting the construction of the XRPL ecosystem by funding developers and supporting innovative applications in the global Web3 field. Through these initiatives, Ripple is driving the development of Web3 technology based on XRP, providing innovative solutions for emerging areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi).
What does the future hold for XRP?
After Trump's election, the cryptocurrency industry holds an optimistic view towards future regulatory policies, which brings new opportunities to the traditional financial industry that has long sought to enter the cryptocurrency market. As Ripple, which has long been deeply involved in the traditional financial sector, attracts significant investor interest due to its potential and influence in the field of cross-border payments. The recent price trend of XRP also reflects this trend, as XRP recently broke through a dynamic resistance level that has lasted for five years.
Some optimistic cryptocurrency analysts believe that XRP's next target price may reach $4.2. With market sentiment driving and favorable policies supporting it, XRP is likely to break through the historical high of $3.317 set in 2018 in the short term. The market reminds that XRP has experienced significant volatility recently, and caution is advised regarding the risk of sharp corrections.
However, the future prospects of XRP remain controversial. On the one hand, the new chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet been confirmed, which exposes Ripple to a certain degree of regulatory uncertainty and potential compliance risks.
On the other hand, since XRP's launch in 2012, its performance has not been as outstanding as expected. Although Ripple announced plans to use XRP for cross-border payments, there are few signs indicating that XRP's actual usage frequency in global financial services has reached the anticipated targets. Moreover, Ripple has not publicly disclosed the profitability of its cross-border payment business, relying more on the sale of XRP tokens to maintain operations, resulting in substantial profits for its founding team and shareholders. Notably, the vast majority of XRP tokens are still held by Ripple, and the company sells a certain amount of XRP each quarter.
Moreover, XRP's past performance has not significantly changed public perception of its potential in the Web3 field, leading some investors to question its future market role. However, Ripple has clearly recognized this challenge and is taking proactive measures to enhance XRP's future development potential. Recently, Ripple launched the RLUSD stablecoin to expand the XRPL ecosystem, and institutions such as Bitwise Asset Management have submitted XRP ETF proposals, indicating that XRP remains a key component of Ripple's future development. Despite facing challenges, XRP's future is still promising.