XRP has surged 17% in the past 24 hours, outperforming Bitcoin (BTC) and other major currencies. The growth is due to changes in the U.S. regulatory environment, which has given a boost to tokens that were previously hampered by actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In early Asian trading on Friday, XRP’s trading price broke through 82 cents, achieving a seven-day winning streak, with a cumulative increase of 50%, the highest level since June 2023. The background of this rise is that 18 states in the United States have filed a lawsuit against the SEC and its commissioners (including Chairman Gary Gensler), accusing them of overstepping their authority in regulating the crypto industry and violating constitutional provisions.
Traders are speculatively optimistic that if the Trump administration comes to power and is friendly to cryptocurrencies, tokens related to American companies, such as XRP associated with Ripple Labs and Uniswap (UNI), will benefit from it. Because these companies are more focused on increasing the value of token holders, they are expected to achieve better development in a favorable policy environment.
Bitcoin (BTC) and major currencies fell 4% late Thursday in the U.S. session on profit-taking, an expected reaction after days of gains. The dollar fell after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's hawkish comments in his latest speech dashed expectations for faster rate cuts. "The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to cut rates," Powell said in prepared remarks for the Dallas conference. "The strength of the economy that we are seeing allows us to make decisions with caution." As of Friday, the market expected a 66% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut at the Fed's upcoming December meeting, down from 83% on Thursday.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell from Thursday’s high of $93,000 to $88,000, a drop that liquidated more than $120 million in both bullish and bearish bets. Ethereum (ETH) and Solana’s SOL fell 3.5%, while dog-themed Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) fell as much as 5%.
The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index that tracks the largest tokens by market cap and has a broad coverage, was largely unchanged. New entrant to the top 20, pepe (PEPE), pulled back 8% on Friday after surging 75% on Thursday following its listing on Coinbase, giving the frog-themed token a market cap of $10 billion for the first time.
Despite the above price fluctuations, the market's bullish sentiment on Bitcoin and the broader market remains unchanged. "Given Bitcoin's strong upward trend since the US election, we believe that its price of $100,000 to $120,000 is not out of reach," said a trader at QCP Capital in a Telegram broadcast, noting: "We believe that Bitcoin (BTC)'s potential strength reflects a systemic shift in market expectations ahead of Trump's return to the White House." QCP Capital also added: "Trump's idea of building a strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve and rotating from gold to Bitcoin (BTC) provides strong support for Bitcoin (BTC) prices."
