XRP price and market cap surge as Ripple files motion to dismiss SEC lawsuit

Ripple Labs recently filed a motion to dismiss the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against the company and its executives.

Motion to dismiss following twin victories last week

The SEC sued the blockchain firm late last year, along with its executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, alleging that XRP tokens were sold as an unregistered security offering.

Despite speculation and fear that led to the delisting of XRP from many crypto exchanges, Ripple has witnessed a string of legal victories, supporting the firm’s dismissal of the case. 

Ripple had twin victories last week, as the court denied the SEC’s request for the personal financial records related to Garlinghouse and Larsen. Judge Sarah Netburn also granted Ripple access to the SEC’s internal communication on Bitcoin and Ethereum.

While the SEC’s lawsuit accused Ripple of running a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering, Judge Netburn previously stated that XRP is a currency and has utility to her understanding. 

With the recent wins against the SEC, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chairman Chris Larsen filed motions to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit. Once these motions are granted, the lawsuit would be over. 

XRP price undeterred by ongoing legal battle

Despite the ongoing legal battle, retail traders have been undiscouraged. The recent legal victories have pushed XRP price even higher, marking a three-year high. 

XRP price surged by over 25% in the past 24 hours, gaining 65% just in the past week. Along with the bullish crypto market, led by Bitcoin and Ethereum in the recent rally, XRP price is trading at $1.81, the highest since 2018.

The cross-border remittance token has recently climbed back up into fourth place by market capitalization and exceeded $70 billion for the first time since early 2018. The total value of XRP has eclipsed the market cap of French banking giant BNP Paribas, with a market cap of roughly $64 billion. 

Relisting XRP unlikely until SEC issues a no-action declaration

Not only has XRP price been riding off of the recent legal battles, but also the rumors of the token being relisted on several exchanges again. A community member made a discovery that pointed to the possibility of Coinbase relisting XRP in several lines of code in the Coinbase Pro API. 

However, John Deaton – the attorney who led the motion to intervene in the SEC v. Ripple case – stated that he does not believe that Coinbase, Kraken and Binance are going to relist XRP until the SEC issues a no-action declaration or further clarity from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Deaton said:

I will be thrilled to be wrong if one of the exchanges that delisted or suspended XRP found the courage to begin trading it again. I hope they all do. But our fight is the SDNY Court. I just wish other cryptos realized that Ripple and XRP holders are fighting for all.

Further, Timothy Peterson, investment manager at Cane Island Alternative Advisors, believes that the crypto exchanges’ decision to suspend trading XRP was based on “weak and political allegation[s].” Considering that XRP has a trading volume of $20 billion per day, roughly 10% of the entire trading volume on the Nasdaq, he stated that it was wrong for exchanges to delist the token. He explained:

Developed market exchanges like NYSE and NASDAQ have objective and published listing requirements. That way there are no subjective, knee-jerk reactions to news or public sentiment.

Peterson further suggested that it was both a poor business and moral decision to delist XRP, paired with the fact that the token’s price has shot up by around 80% in a week.