XRP Whales on the Rise Following Ripple’s Win v. the SEC

The number of XRP whales owning 100M+ tokens has surged to 199, marking an 11-week high. 

One factor playing a role in the new trend could be Ripple’s court victory against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which fueled a price increase for XRP and renewed optimism in the entire cryptocurrency space.

Accumulating Again

The crypto analytics platform – Santiment – estimated that there are now 199 XRP whales, each of whom holds at least 100 million coins. Calculated at current prices, this stash equals approximately $70 million. The last time such XRP whales neared the milestone of 200 was on May 13 this year.

Santiment also determined that those participants had begun an accumulation mode in mid-July when Ripple (the enterprise blockchain provider behind XRP) won a landmark victory against the US SEC. Prior to that (between April and July), investors were predominantly dumping their holdings. 

The major win has acted as a catalyst for the price of the digital asset, boosting it to as high as $0.95. XRP’s market capitalization also skyrocketed, briefly surpassing that of BNB. As of the moment of writing these lines, though, Binance’s native token stands as the fourth biggest crypto asset, while XRP is back in the fifth position (per CoinGecko’s data).

Regardless, Ripple’s native token has been one of crypto’s biggest stars and best performers in the past few weeks. The renewed investor interest prompted numerous exchanges, such as Coinbase, Kraken, Crypto.com, and Bitstamp, to re-introduce trading services involving XRP.

SEC’s Possible Appeal

Despite Ripple’s recent triumph, the legal battle with the American securities regulator seems far from over. As reported by some media outlets, the SEC has requested a federal judge to ignore key parts of the ruling in the case with the blockchain entity. 

“Ripple creates an artificial distinction between the expectations of sophisticated institutional and retail investors, improperly transforms Howey’s reasonable investor inquiry into a subjective one, and turns on its head the reasoning underlying Howey and other cases,” the watchdog claimed. 

Some have argued that the SEC’s discontent could trigger a potential court appeal, meaning the legal battle could drag on for another two years (at least).

However, prominent figures in the crypto space argued that a restart of the lawsuit (even if it happens) would not automatically mean that the regulator will emerge victorious. John Deaton – Managing Partner of the Deaton Law Firm – and Scott Melker (more popular as “The Wolf of All Streets”) are two examples. The latter stated on Twitter:

Ripple won.

For at least the next two years (appeal and decision) and likely forever, $XRP is not a security.

And neither are most altcoins by the same rationale.

Have fun staying a trader. https://t.co/G4X3ByzOMn

— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) July 23, 2023