Ripple’s XRP zoomed past $1.4 on Friday — its highest price point since May 2021 after United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler announced his resignation date.
Gensler’s departure could force the Wall Street regulator to reevaluate its approach to current litigation, likely leading to a decision not to pursue its appeal in the long-drawn-out court case with Ripple.
XRP Victory As Gensler Resigns
XRP, along with most other crypto assets, has benefited from the strong upsurge fuelled by crypto supporter Donald Trump’s election victory. Most industry participants believe ongoing SEC cases against crypto firms could be dismissed or settled after Trump gets into office as his administration could foster policies favorable to the growth of the nascent crypto industry.
Today, XRP outperformed other major cryptocurrencies, likely spurred by Thursday’s announcement of SEC Gary Gensler’s exit from the Commission. He will resign from his role at the SEC on Jan. 20, 2025.
There are also high hopes of spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the U.S. amid the perceived conducive regulatory environment post-Gensler. At the moment, Bitwise, 21Shares, and Canary Capital have all already submitted applications with the SEC for their respective XRP ETFs.
The potential greenlighting of a U.S.-listed spot XRP ETF could act as a huge bullish catalyst for XRP’s price.
XRP Now Eyes $5
The price of XRP posted a 25.0% gain in the last 24 hours, to reach a three-year high of $1.42 on Nov. 22, data from CoinGecko shows. The sixth-largest crypto has surged 160.5% over the last 30 days after loitering between $0.5 and $0.6 for most of this year even as Bitcoin and other major cryptos rallied.
The XRP price is now targeting the elusive $5 milestone, as predicted by popular crypto on-chain analyst Ali Martinez. Martinez is convinced that Gensler leaving his role as SEC Chairman is certainly the “best thing that could happen to Ripple.”
Just last week, XRP broke past the $1 mark following speculation about Gensler’s forthcoming resignation and rumors of a meeting between President-elect Trump and Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse.
XRP Avengers has set an even more lofty target for XRP, stating that most people are likely to cash out when the price is between $10 and $50. The pundit added:
“I am here to see the price above $100.”
