Ripple’s XRP rockets past $0.80 amid Gensler’s potential exit

Ripple’s native crypto, XRP, turned out to be the biggest gainer among the top 100 cryptos breaching the much awaited $0.80 price level. On the other hand, Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recorded a drop of over 2% and 7%, respectively, in the last 24 hours.

XRP’s explosive upward is seen after the SEC Chair Gary Gensler hinted at an imminent exit during his Thursday speech. He acknowledged his tenure’s end as President-elect Trump prepares to take office. Market speculations suggest a Trump-led, crypto-friendly administration could favor US based projects like Ripple and Uniswap.

XRP jumps 50% in 7 days

XRP price jumped by over 19% in the last 24 hours, pushing it to rally to hit a new recent times high. XRP is trading at an average price of $0.81, at press time, while it touched $0.84 in the early hours. Its 24-hour trading volume jumped by 72% to stand at $11.13 billion. It has gained around 50% in just 7 days, levels last seen in June 2023.

According to the data shared by CoinGlass, more than $12.21 million worth of bets placed on XRP price action got liquidated in just 12 hours. Around $6.5 million worth of liquidated bets (53%) turns out to be short positions. This suggests that traders were mildly expecting the price to drop but the few recent developments played out in the XRP’s favor.

Meanwhile, this surge comes in when the global crypto market printed red indexes all around. The cumulative crypto market cap dropped by 3% to stand at $2.9 trillion with a trading volume of $226 billion.

Santiment’s data depicts that whale wallets holding at least 1 million XRP has hit their highest amount held since June 2018. These wallets are now holding a combined 45.61 billion tokens. It added that whale and shark wallets have added 3.44 billion more XRP in the last 2 years.

Gensler’s days at SEC are numbered

SEC Chair Gary Gensler may be on his way out. In a recent speech, he dropped hints that he’d soon leave the agency which signals a major shift in crypto regulation. President-elect Trump’s recent win means that Gensler’s days at the SEC are likely numbered. 

While Trump can’t fire the chair, he could demote him and pick a new chair. It is seen as a common move with incoming administrations. Gensler is known for his fierce crackdown on crypto. Over half of all crypto enforcement actions since 2015 happened during his tenure.

The crypto industry has seen Gensler applying his overreach by suing many major projects and companies. However, his fresh words suggest that he is ready to move on. He stated that he’s “proud” of his SEC colleagues who “protect American families on the highways of finance.”

In the latest development, 18 US states have filed to sue and have sued the SEC, accusing it of unconstitutional overreach in its aggressive crackdown on the crypto industry. The complaint led by Kentucky AG Russell Coleman, challenges the commission’s sweeping interpretation of securities law.