XRP price posted a sharp rally against Bitcoin (BTC) on continued optimism about a potential settlement between Ripple, a San Francisco-based blockchain payment firm, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Settlement rumors fuel XRP price boom
On Sept. 23, the XRP/BTC pair surged to 0.00002877 — its best level in 13 months — from 0.00002132, a 35% price rally versus Bitcoin in one day. Meanwhile, the same timeframe saw XRP rising as much as 42% against the U.S. dollar.
XRP/BTC and XRP/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
The big price leaps in the XRP market started appearing after Ripple and SEC filed motions for a summary judgment with the court on Sept. 12 regarding their ongoing legal battle over allegations that Ripple hcommitted securities fraud.
In other words, Ripple and SEC agreed that the court should use the available evidence to reach a verdict on whether the blockchain firm illegally raised funds by selling XRP by December 2022, and thus avoid a trial.
XRP’s price has boomed approximately 75% and 60% versus Bitcoin and the dollar, respectively, since Ripple’s court filing, fueled by optimism of a possible win for Ripple.
The buying accelerated further after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse suggested the same in his recent interview with Fox Business on Sept. 22.
BREAKING: Ripple CEO @BGarlinghouse Appears on Fox Business Amid $XRP Price Surge Approaching $0.50
pic.twitter.com/wg6a3QeSly
— HeadlineHunter!U.S. (@HHunter_US) September 22, 2022
Garlinghouse:
“People realize that the SEC is really overreaching and they are not following a faithful allegiance to the law in pursuit for an outcome […] The SEC has kind of lost its way.”
XRP sharks and whales buying since 2020
The price surge also comes amid the consistent accumulation of XRP tokens by rich investors csince May.
The percentage of entities holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP tokens — known as sharks and whales — has risen as a whole to 6.35% on Sept. 23, 2022, up from 5.43% on Dec. 31, 2020, according to data from Santiment, which noted:
“Active shark & whale addresses holding 1m to 10m $XRP have been in an…..
