Crypto markets soared on Thursday after a U.S. judge ruled that the sale of Ripple’s XRP tokens on exchanges and through algorithms did not constitute investment contracts, but that institutional sales of the tokens violated federal securities laws. The ruling provided a much-needed price catalyst for Bitcoin and other major digital assets, with the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization recently trading at $31,328, up 3.2% over the past 24 hours.
XRP rose 96% at one point to change hands at 93.6 cents, its highest level since March 2022. It was recently trading at 74 cents, still up more than 73%. Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) also saw significant gains, with ADA and SOL recently up more than 20% and 17%, respectively. Ether, the second largest crypto in market value, jumped past $2,000 for the first time in three months before retreating slightly below this threshold but was still up over 6.5% from Wednesday.
Dave Weisberger, the co-founder and CEO of crypto algorithmic trading platform CoinRoutes, believes that the ruling relieves pressure on these tokens and it would not be surprising to see a rally that recovers the initial losses and more. Joe DiPasquale, the CEO of crypto fund manager, was similarly upbeat about the prospects of multiple spot Bitcoin ETF applications filed last month by some of the financial services industry’s biggest brands.
The relatively calm trade behavior of Bitcoin in recent weeks has likely removed the motivation for shorter-term holders to sell their asset, contributing to its recent support around $30,000. According to Glassnode, the percentage of short-term Bitcoin holders in profit exceeds 83%.
Quotes: The ruling in the Ripple case is important as it specifically renders secondary market trading of utility tokens outside SEC jurisdiction, while preserving their jurisdiction over institutional fundraising, Weisberger wrote. This is very good news for crypto exchanges and investors regarding a wide range of tokens identified by the SEC in the Coinbase and Binance lawsuits.
At this point, Bitcoin ETF applications also appear to have promising prospects, and we would be surprised if BTC or other major cryptocurrencies revisit recent lows in the short-term, DiPasquale wrote.