Bitcoin reached a new all-time high price in December. Meanwhile, analysts believe that XRP is on track to break its own record, surpassing the gains of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana in December.
In December, the price of the XRP token dropped 84% from its all-time high of $3.4 per coin in January 2018 to a multi-year low of $0.16 in March 2020. After seven years of volatile XRP markets, Ripple Labs' cross-border payment token peaked at $2.17 on December 2.
Subsequently, this asset created a descending wedge pattern over 30 days with decreasing daily trading volume. The bullish reversal of this classic technical chart pattern appeared on New Year's Day. Ripple has risen 26% since the beginning of the year.
1. Musk is Supporting Ripple's Efforts to Escape the SEC
In December, Trump's new DOGE advisor tweeted criticizing the latest SEC actions. He made a very favorable statement about XRP when asked in October.
Right after the U.S. Federal Court in New Orleans ruled that the SEC violated the law (by supporting diversity requirements for corporate boards), Musk tweeted:
“The SEC is just an organization armed to carry out dirty political work.”
That is a quote from Senator Mike Lee's repost supporting cryptocurrency in Utah. The senator stated, “The SEC is another 'independent commission' that cannot be trusted.”
Musk's post came just after the U.S. Federal Court ruled against the SEC in another case that reinforced Ripple's argument that the agency is regulating by enforcement rather than by policy.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has voiced support for Musk's description. "What he said," Garlinghouse added.
At the beginning of Q4, at a conference of America PAC, an audience member asked the tech mogul: "Do you envision the XRP Ledger being integrated into financial institutions in the future?"
Musk responded, “This is certainly not an endorsement or non-endorsement of XRP, but I think that cryptocurrency, by its nature, is beneficial for personal freedom.”
2. Trump's Return to the White House is a Major Win for XRP
FOX Business senior reporter Charles Gasparino recently claimed that newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump could intervene in the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple Labs.
He made this comment with the CEO of Professional Capital Management, Anthony Pompliano, on the Pomp Podcast. Gasparino said he hopes the new Trump administration will significantly change the SEC's approach to Ripple.
He specifically pointed out that Trump's nomination of Paul Atkins as SEC Chairman is a sure sign that the Securities and Exchange Commission will be more friendly towards Ripple and XRP in the next four years.
Atkins is the CEO of a global consulting firm with clients in the cryptocurrency industry. Meanwhile, Trump seems to be purging anti-cryptocurrency SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw.
The SEC's lawsuit against XRP could be seen as the most significant impediment to XRP's price. It represents the most serious ongoing threat to Ripple and the adoption of XRP by institutions.
3. XRP for Oil in the Middle East and North Africa
Reflecting on an important year for cryptocurrency and looking toward 2025, @Ripple remains committed to promoting the digital asset ecosystem across the Middle East and Africa. Here’s what we expect in 2025.
Reece Merrick, Ripple's CEO for the Middle East and Africa, shared a detailed note on Thursday about the ongoing #RemittanceRevolution in MENA countries.
He stated that the oil-rich United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf is currently leading the adoption of cryptocurrency in the Middle East:
“Remittances in MENA are being transformed by cryptocurrency. Stablecoins are cutting costs and speeding up remittances—bringing the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa closer together than ever before. The UAE is leading in financial connectivity.”
He predicts that banks in the Middle East will “fully adopt blockchain solutions” like XRP by 2025:
“By 2025, MEA banks will fully adopt blockchain technology. Look at the UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Qatar, and Morocco. Faster payments, tokenized assets, and stablecoin utility are rewriting the rules of banking. This is how we diversify and shape the financial system of the future.”
The total value locked in real-world asset (RWA) crypto platforms skyrocketing is an optimistic indicator of XRP's value as a fast, low-cost payment tool in international trade. Most cryptocurrency analysts agree that this is one of the most important metas for blockchain in 2025.
4. The market is going crazy over Ripple's RLUSD
Ripple Labs launched the new stablecoin RLUSD on December 17. This coin generates more liquidity alongside the XRP pool in the blockchain ecosystem, thus potentially supporting the price of XRP for a longer period.
Stablecoins have a fixed purchasing power of 1:1 with the U.S. dollar or other floating sovereign currencies like the yen or euro. So far, the new stablecoin has been available on several cryptocurrency exchanges. Traders can use RLUSD on Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, Moonpay, CoinMENA, and Bullish, among many others.
The industry was so excited about RLUSD before its launch that Ripple's CTO, David Schwarz, had to warn about FOMO before the coin hit the market. Interestingly, the blockchain minted most of the new stablecoins on Ethereum—about $52 million.
Ripple's Senior Vice President in charge of stablecoins, Jack McDonald, told CNBC that the growth XRP achieved before RLUSD's launch inspired the new Ripple-branded stablecoin: “One part of the motivation for us to launch a stablecoin was the growth we specifically saw in cross-border payments.”
McDonald added: “As we use stablecoins more frequently in our transaction flows, it really makes us think about whether we should have our own stablecoin, which could be more cost-effective and operationally efficient to use.”
The final line for investors
During the New Year holiday, XRP reversed its upward trend. Ripple broke out of a descending wedge pattern with decreasing volume.
Interestingly, this bull run only requires significantly lower daily trading volume to recover 68% of the drop from XRP's all-time high price on December 2.
This shows that this market is still far from reaching the euphoric phase of this bull market, with plenty of room for price increases.
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