Ripple weighs relocation to Japan, the UK or the United Arab Emirates

The blockchain and cross-border payments company, Ripple Labs Inc. is reportedly preparing a shortlist containing countries it may relocate to in case regulations in the United States continue in uncertainty. Ripple has faced firsthand the impact of unclear regulations, especially with a class-action lawsuit against it in the courts.

According to the CEO of the San Francisco-based blockchain firm, Brad Garlinghouse, countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Japan, the United Kingdom and Singapore come on top of the list. He explained:

The common denominator between all of them is that their governments have created clarity about how they would regulate different digital assets, different cryptocurrencies.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg TV, Garlinghouse added that the United States is becoming an unfavorable environment due to the conflicting opinions regarding digital assets' status. The US regulatory authorities consistently differ on whether to refer to some cryptoassets as commodities, currencies, properties, or securities.

Regulation shouldn't be a guessing game.

Ripple is definitely a proud U.S. company and we'd like to stay in the U.S. if that was possible, but we also need regulatory clarity in order for us to invest and grow the business.

Garlinghouse also commented on the impact of the coronavirus. He argued that the pandemic was a "tailwind" to the crypto market mainly because governments and central banks globally are printing more cash bills. As a result, elements of inflation are kicking in while people look elsewhere for fiat alternatives.

Ripple facing the ultimate resistance before liftoff to $0.3

Recently, XRP revisited support at $0.24 but resumed the uptrend aiming for $0.3. The bullish action turned the 200 Simple Moving Average (SMA), 50 SMA and 100 SMA into support levels. XRP/USD struggled with the resistance at $0.25, as discussed before, and is currently approaching $0.26.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) reinforces the bullish outlook by piercing into the overbought area. As soon as the seller congestion at $0.26 is pushed back, XRP will shift the focus to $0.30, attracting more buyers to join the market.

XRP/USD 4-hour chart

According to Santiment, on-chain activity has been on the rise within the Ripple network. For instance, both the volume and the 24-hour network active addresses metrics saw a consistent roll upwards from October 19.

Whenever volume and active addresses increase in tandem, XRP tends to shoot up. On the other hand, a decline in the two metrics tends to pull the value down. For now, the sharp rise might continue to support Ripple's anticipated rally to $0.3.

Ripple volume/active addresses chart

Looking at the other side of the picture

It is worth mentioning that if XRP/USD is rejected at $0.26 again, the fall from the resistance may be fatal. Note that the RSI is nearing the oversold, which means a reversal is not a farfetched idea. We can expect the 100 SMA, the 50 SMA, and the 200 SMA to absorb the selling pressure on the downside. Other levels to keep in mind include $0.24 and $0.22.