XRP has faced significant challenges in the wake of the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs. Since the lawsuit was filed in 2020, the number of XRP exchanges has decreased, with several high-profile exchanges like Coinbase, Crypto com, and OKCoin suspending trading of the token on their platforms. This delisting has had a negative impact on the token’s global reach, as these exchanges are popular worldwide.
Despite the trading suspension, customers still had access to XRP wallets for deposit and withdrawal functionality. However, some exchanges, such as Crypto com, have re-listed XRP, giving their users access to trade the token. With the lawsuit potentially reaching its endgame in 2023, there is a possibility that more exchanges could re-list XRP if the token wins the case, which could have a positive effect on the token’s price action.
The SEC’s litigation against Ripple Labs and its employees, Christian Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, charged them with public sales of unregulated securities worth over $1.3 billion. The lawsuit hurt XRP and caused its price to decline sharply. While the token has since recovered, the negative sentiment around XRP during that period cannot be overlooked.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in a recent interview that the company will have spent $200 million defending itself against the SEC’s lawsuit by the time it is over in 2023. If the judgment is passed in Ripple’s favor, several exchanges might re-list XRP, creating hype and potentially pumping the token’s price over the subsequent months.
However, XRP’s performance has not been on par for some time. Its development activity has decreased, and its social volume has declined. At the time of writing, XRP was down by more than 7% in the last seven days and trading at $0.4245 with a market capitalization of over $22 billion, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The token’s demand in the derivatives market has remained stable, but it tumbled during the concluding weeks of April. XRP’s network growth and velocity also declined over the last three months, indicating that fewer new wallets were created, and the token was not transferred among wallets at a higher rate. Nonetheless, investors’ confidence in XRP remained unaffected, as the total amount of holders increased.