- ETH hit $2,000 for the first since May as it shows signs of staging a comeback.
- The asset leveraged XRP’s historic win over the SEC to reach a new milestone.
Ripple Labs’ “pyrrhic victory” sent virtual currency prices surging to new highs, with Ethereum (ETH) latching onto the bullish wave to hit $2,000.
After months of roiling in the doldrums of low prices, ETH recaptured $2,000 in a strong show of strength. The second-largest cryptocurrency reached a 30-day peak of $2,026 on July 11.
The rally left ETH with a market capitalization of $238 billion with a market dominance of 19.17%. Daily transaction volumes grew by 38.29% to settle at $11 billion as market activity exploded following XRP’s victory.
The last time ETH traded above $2,000 was back in May on a market resurgence. Apart from a minor rally in April that saw the asset climb as high as $2,100, the last time ETH exchanged for over $2000 was 11 months ago at the start of the extended bear market.
Despite the rally, ETH’s price is still 60% below its all-time high of $4,878 in the bull market of November 2021.
However, experts predict ETH will experience a minor slump as the euphoria of XRP’s victory wears off. Aside from ETH, other cryptocurrencies are also leveraging XRP’s win over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to post impressive figures.
Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), and Avalanche (AVAX) recorded double-digit gains in the wake of the court’s ruling. Other virtual currencies riding the XRP’s wave include Dogecoin (DOGE), Polkadot (DOT), and Shiba Inu (SHIB), with rallies that have sent their communities buzzing.
The global virtual currency market capitalization hovers at the $1.24 trillion mark, which is a 2% increase before the announcement of Ripple Labs’ victory over the SEC.
The ruling sent shockwaves across the ecosystem
In December 2020, the SEC instituted legal action against Ripple Labs and its executives for selling securities without seeking the consent of the securities watchdog. Over the next 30 months, both parties were embroiled in a legal battle that saw the entire virtual currency community watch with bated breaths.
On July 13, the court ruled that Ripple Labs’s XRP did not fall under the designation of securities when traded on digital asset exchanges. However, the court ruled that the institutional sale of the assets stood in breach of existing capital market regulation, which netted Ripple Labs over $700 million in profit.
