Whales accumulating XRP
Crypto whales look to be in accumulation mode for XRP, as hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Ripple’s native coin got scooped up in the last days. More than 350 whale addresses possess more than 10 million XRP at the moment, with trading volume significantly up over the first days of March.
A reason for that may be rumours that Ripple could win its long-standing court case against the SEC. The lawsuit, which sees the SEC accusing Ripple of raising almost $2 billion AUD as an unregistered security offering, has been hanging like a dark cloud over the fate of Ripple for years.
Former SEC official Joseph Hall recently said in an interview that the SEC’s decision to file charges against Ripple was a mistake in the first place. According to Hall’s assessment, the SEC lacks grounds for initiating the case, which could (or should) result in Ripple eventually winning the case. This coincides with the findings of a recent report on XRP.
A possible bull case for XRP
The bull case for XRP is pretty easy to make at this point.
If Ripple wins the lawsuit, the price of XRP should fly. An initial overshoot may happen, and euphoria could briefly take over, opening up opportunities for short-sellers to step in and scalp a possible short-term retracement. But on higher time frames, Ripple will be cleared of the number one reason of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) for its product and could finally deliver on its promise to become a legitimate competitor to established payment infrastructure for the legacy financial system.
Target prices would probably largely depend on the macro picture and how BTC is holding up against equities, so traders would be well-advised to trade XRP against BTC or ETH.
A possible bear case for XRP
However, the opposite may happen as well.
If XRP does go on to lose its court case or, the more probable alternative, no resolution is imminent, it will continue on the slight downtrend it has been on for years. Even though many cryptocurrency purists belittle XRP for not being a “real cryptocurrency,” it does have an undisputable use case – something you cannot say of every coin.
In this case, the best investors can hope for is XRP holding up against BTC and ETH, but bullish macro action would likely see less gains for XRp compared to more promising assets.
Quo vadis, Ripple?
Following the smart money is generally a good investment heuristic. Thus, retail investors can hope that whales are “onto something.” In terms of Ripple’s long-term prospects, a final decision of the lawsuit will be key to the company’s long-term success. No matter how the court decides, it will bring some much-needed closure to this saga and allow Ripple to (re)focus on its core business: making cross-border payments.