Cryptocurrencies and crypto-related stocks surged after a federal judge ruled that the sale of Ripple’s XRP tokens on exchanges and through algorithms did not violate federal securities laws. Bitcoin (BTC) surged to its highest level in over a year, reaching $31,700 at press time. Several blockchain native tokens, such as Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), and Cardano (ADA), all of which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed unregistered securities in previous lawsuits, rose about 15%. XRP itself rose about 70% to $0.80.
Coinbase, the subject of its own SEC lawsuit in June alleging the sale of unregistered securities, soared 24% to its highest level since Aug. 2022. MicroStrategy (MSTR) added 12%, while Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) gained 14% and Hut 8 Mining (HUT) jumped 19%.
Charles Storry, head of growth at crypto index platform Phuture, commented, “Investors have been on the sidelines due to the SEC having a very public and harsh view on crypto. The Ripple case ruling has been the start of some of that capital beginning to enter the space.” Coinbase also tweeted that it would re-enable trading for XRP-USD, XRP-USDT and XRP-EUR trading pairs on the XRP network as soon as there is sufficient liquidity. Will Sheehan, CEO & Founder of Parsec, noted, “Traders have been waiting for a Ripple ruling for a long time and it has always been discussed as a large potential catalyst.”