Ripple Labs has finally wrapped up its long legal battle with the SEC. The company was hit with a $125 million civil penalty for selling its XRP token to institutional investors without registering it as a security.
This fine is a small fraction of the nearly $2 billion that the SEC had originally sought. The SEC sued Ripple Labs back in 2020. They claimed that Ripple broke SEC rules by raising money through XRP sales without registration.
This case has been a big deal because it could change how the SEC regulates cryptocurrencies. Ripple, on the other hand, argued that they shouldn’t pay more than $10 million.
Ripple’s big win
After the ruling, XRP’s price shot up by 25% to $0.64. Despite this boost, XRP, which is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market value, hasn’t changed much overall this year.
The ruling came at a time when cryptocurrencies were losing value due to risk aversion in global markets. Judge Analisa Torres made a key decision in July 2023.
She ruled that XRP is only a security when sold to sophisticated institutional investors. This ruling was seen as a win for the crypto industry.
The SEC has been going after several crypto exchanges and issuers for offering unregistered securities. This case was a big part of that effort.
On Wednesday, Judge Torres granted the SEC’s request to stop Ripple from selling unregistered XRP to institutional investors. However, she denied the SEC’s request for Ripple to return profits from these sales.
In ordering the $125 million penalty, she ruled that the case didn’t involve fraud or misappropriation and that the SEC didn’t prove that investors actually lost any money due to Ripple’s actions.
The market’s reaction
At press time, XRP is priced at $0.6096, with a minor dip of 0.60%. The Simple Moving Averages (SMAs) for 50, 100, and 200 periods are key. The SMAs for 50, 100, and 200 periods are $0.5179, $0.5155, and $0.5572 respectively.
The current price has risen above these moving averages, which is a bullish sign, suggesting that a potential rally could be in the works.
The MACD shows a positive divergence, with its line at 0.0234 and the signal line at 0.0109. The histogram value is 0.0124., meaning that buying pressure is building up.
The sharp rise of the MACD line above the signal line supports the likelihood of continued upward momentum. The OBV value is at 466.387 million, reflecting a major increase in volume alongside the recent price surge.
It remains to be seen if a rally will indeed break out.
