The price of XRP witnessed a significant uptick early on Monday, reaching above $2.50 before experiencing a slight dip to $2.30. This remarkable 21% surge over the past 24 hours and nearly a 50% increase compared to last week showcases the token's growing popularity and value. Since Trump's electoral victory, XRP's market cap has soared from around $30 billion to an astonishing $131 billion on Monday. It even crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time since 2018, overtaking Solana's SOL and briefly surpassing Tether's USDT stablecoin market value. Bitcoin, with its value hovering around $100,000 in the past week, still remains the world's most valuable cryptocurrency with a market cap of nearly $1.89 trillion, followed by the Ether token with a market cap of $436 billion.
What fueled this XRP surge over the weekend? It was after Fox Business reported that the New York Department of Financial Services might soon approve the launch of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin. The report suggested that the company could be gearing up to launch RLUSD as early as December 4. This news had a significant impact on XRP's price, leading to a substantial increase.
Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP payment protocol and the user of the token for its payments platform, faced a legal battle in 2020 when the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the company of selling XRP tokens without proper registration. However, in July last year, a federal judge ruled that Ripple did not violate securities law by selling the token on public exchanges. This was a major setback for the SEC. In October this year, the SEC appealed the ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The uncertainty surrounding the case, along with Trump's electoral victory and SEC chair Gary Gensler's announcement of stepping down in January, has triggered speculation about the future of the Ripple case. Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Chris Giancarlo, who is a top contender to serve as the "Crypto Czar" in the incoming Trump administration, has expressed his view that the SEC should drop the case against Ripple. His comments have added to the market's anticipation.
The post-election cryptocurrency surge is driven by expectations of a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment under the Trump and the GOP controlled Congress. During his campaign, the President-elect adopted a pro-crypto stance and pledged to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the planet." This policy shift is a significant departure from his earlier stance when he labeled Bitcoin as a "scam" and a disaster waiting to happen. The industry has come together to advocate for pro-innovation candidates through Fairshake PAC, as highlighted by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse in a post on X last week.