TL;DR

XRPs price surged to a four-month high of $0.66 amid optimism about a potential resolution in the Ripple v SEC lawsuit. The number of XRP sharks and whales has increased, signaling confidence but also potential volatility if large sell-offs occur.

XRP on the Run

The cryptocurrency sector continues to struggle today (July 31), with its global market capitalization briefly dipping below $2.5 trillion (per CoinGeckos data). Leading digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are slightly in the red for the day, but this is not the case with XRP.

The price of Ripples native token has been on a tear, rising to a four-month high of almost $0.66 several hours ago. Currently, it trades at around $0.64, representing a 7% increase on a 24-hour scale.

XRP Price, Source: CoinGecko XRPs latest pump comes amid rising expectations that the lawsuit between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might be drawing to a conclusion. The case has been ongoing for over three and a half years now, but some experts believe a resolution could be just around the corner.

The American attorney Fred Rispoli recently predicted that the entities could shake hands on a mutual agreement on July 31, while Jeremy Hogan thinks the outcome may be announced before the end of the summer. 

Some industry participants speculated that the SEC might discuss a possible settlement with Ripple during its closed-door meeting on July 25. However, the agency has not revealed any information on the matter.

XRPs rally also coincides with the SECs U-turn regarding a complaint against Binance and some of the cryptocurrencies offered on its platform. 

The SEC informed Defendants that it intends to seek leave to amend its Complaint, including with respect to the Third Party Crypto Asset Securities as defined in the SECs Omnibus Opposition to Defendants Motion to Dismiss, Dkt. No. 172, obviating the need for the Court to issue a ruling as to the sufficiency of the allegations as to those tokens at this time, the amendment reads.

Previously, the Commission has accused Binance of offering and selling Solana (SOL), Binance Coin (BNB), Cardano (ADA), and other Third Party Crypto Asset Securities as investment contracts.

Recall that the lawsuit between Ripple and the SEC centers on allegations that XRP is a security. Last summer, Judge Torres ruled that the companys programmatic sales to secondary trading platforms do not constitute offers of investment contracts. The decision was viewed as a massive court win (yet a partial one) for Ripple, resulting in a double-digit price spike for XRP. 

XRP Whales on the Move

Crypto market intelligence platform Santiment revealed that the amount of wallets holding at least 10,000 XRP tokens has exploded to a six-month high of almost 280,000.

The rising number of sharks and whales might be interpreted as a sign of confidence and lead to additional market participants entering the ecosystem. 

On the other hand, large sell-offs from such investors can create panic and negatively impact the XRP price.