It’s been a rough few days for crypto prices after several weeks of upward pumps. After rallying nearly 300% in the past two months and even briefly flipping Tether’s USDT to become the third-largest crypto by market cap, Ripple-associated cryptocurrency XRP has lost roughly 16% of its value over the last 14 days. But despite the price correction, one analyst is urging investors to stop doubting XRP’s potential. Armando Pantoja, an IBM blockchain award recipient and angel investor, believes a meteoric XRP bull run is just around the corner. SEC vs. Ripple Lawsuit Nears Conclusion In a December 28 post on the X platform, Armando Pantoja noted that XRP “shocked the world” in 2017 when it rocketed from approximately $0.003 to hit its still-standing all-time high of $3.40 in January of the next year, a move that skeptics claimed could “never happen.” Now, Armando thinks the Ripple-promoted crypto is bound to surge as Ripple’s long-running legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is approaching closure. A judicial ruling last year determined that Ripple’s sales of XRP to retail investors did not break U.S. federal securities laws, representing a favorable verdict for Ripple. Yet the courtroom drama has continued in 2024. In October, the SEC lodged an appeal contesting parts of the previous year’s ruling, focused instead on XRP sales on digital asset trading platforms and personal sales by Ripple’s top executives. A Ripple cross-appeal quickly followed it. Nevertheless, it’s widely expected that the SEC will drop the appeal as the current chairman Gary Gensler prepares to resign in January. Trump’s Crypto-Friendly Regime Will Especially Be Good For XRP Furthermore, Pantoja suggested that XRP stands to benefit a lot from a Donald Trump administration. On Dec. 4, Trump tapped pro-crypto businessman and former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins as his nominee for the next SEC boss. The nomination of a pro-crypto SEC commissioner to take Gensler’s place was one of the president-elect’s promises to crypto voters on the campaign trail and a highlight of his keynote address at the July Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s worth mentioning that multiple asset managers have now submitted applications to kick-start the regulatory process on U.S.-listed spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under a more crypto-friendly SEC.
