Yesterday, just as ordered by the court a few weeks ago in the case against Ripple, the SEC delivered the so-called Hinman docs, and the price of the XRP crypto fell.
These documents had been expected to be delivered for months by now, with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse saying they were worth waiting for.
Instead, it turns out that the delivery of these documents has not had a positive impact on XRP’s market value at all.
Summary
The price of the Ripple (XRP) crypto
Today the price of XRP on the crypto markets is losing 3.5% compared to yesterday, while on the other hand Ethereum is only -0.6% for instance, and BNB as much as +6%. XRP is losing more today than ADA, SOL and MATIC.
What’s more, it is also losing 4.5% compared to seven days ago, although it is still almost +20% compared to a month ago. Since the beginning of the year, the cumulative gain is 50%, compared to 55% for BTC and 44% for ETH.
However, it does seem to be behaving differently from the other major cryptocurrencies in this respect.
While BTC and ETH have made significant gains in early 2023, compared to last year’s close, XRP was still more or less at December levels in mid-March.
Instead, at the end of March, as the long period of lateralization (still ongoing) of BTC and ETH began, XRP soared: up 50% in just two weeks.
However, starting in April, the price of XRP also entered a phase of lateralization that is still ongoing, although marked by slightly higher volatility than that of Bitcoin.
The 2023 annual high remains the $0.54 of 30 March, but just before mid-May it had fallen to $0.42. Compared to $0.34 at the end of 2022 even this was still a good level, and it subsequently rebounded to the current $0.51.
It is worth pointing out that as early as October last year it had risen to $0.53, so the current value is lower than it was before the FTX collapse, while on the other hand, as far as Bitcoin is concerned, the current value is significantly higher than it was in October 2022.
If to this we add that in October 2018, when BTC was worth less than $7,000, the price of XRP reached over $0.58, we realize how much this cryptocurrency has been struggling for years to return to its highs. It is no coincidence that during the last big bullrun XRP was unable to even approach the resounding all-time high of $3.84 touched in January 2018.
The Hinman docs
The SEC documents called the Hinman docs were handed over to the court, but apparently they did not explicitly refer to the Ripple/XRP case.
It is worth noting that Ripple is the company that launched the cryptocurrency, while XRP is just the cryptocurrency.
Instead, the Hinman docs reveal that in 2018 the SEC considered Ethereum to be a commodity, not a security. But the argument that can be made about ETH does not necessarily apply to XRP.
In other words, Garlinghouse’s statements had probably generated excessive enthusiasm and expectation for the release of these documents.
Indeed, in recent days the price of XRP has risen from $0.49 to $0.53, with a very brief spike to $0.56 yesterday. But after returning to $0.52, it then fell again to $0.51 with the release of these documents.
The disappointment seems evident, although the whole thing is not really over yet.
The SEC lawsuit
The court dispute between the SEC and Ripple, specifically concerning the nature of XRP as a security or commodity, has been going on for two and a half years now.
At this time it does not appear that either side is likely to prevail, and there are no clear indications that make one guess with reasonable certainty who the court will agree with.
The fact is that if eventually XRP is not recognized as a security, then this decision could cascade over many of the other cryptocurrencies that the SEC considers as such, perhaps ending the issue.
If the court were to agree with the SEC, the effects could be negative on the entire altcoin market.
So far it seems that the two sides have focused on stalling the court’s decision as much as possible, almost as if they are afraid of it.
In fact, rumors have been circulating for some time now about a possible Ripple settlement with the SEC.
However, until there is a clear pronouncement from the court regarding the nature of XRP as a security or commodity it remains very difficult to predict how this diatribe might turn out.
