XRP (XRP) prices rose today following the news that U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York rejected the SEC’s argument that XRP is a security.
XRP immediately hit $0.55 but later gave back some of its gains on October 4.
Ripple’s favorable court ruling has experts divided
In a court order dated October 3, Judge Torres claimed that the matter did not require an order “involving questions of legal control”, which is a necessary condition for granting an interlocutory appeal. The decision sparked debate among community encryption law experts.
Bill Hughes, an attorney for blockchain company ConsenSys, told Cointelegraph that the rejection of the SEC’s appeal is generally expected, given that appeals of this nature are uncommon in this part of the trial.
Likewise, Delphi Labs General Counsel Gabriel Shapiro warned XRP bulls to curb their enthusiasm as the SEC may still appeal the case later. Regulators will need to wait until the end of the trial, which is scheduled to begin on April 23, 2024.
Ripple gets Singapore digital payments license approval
Ripple announced in a statement on October 4 that its local entity Ripple Markets Asia Pacific has obtained a digital payment token service license from a major payment institution in Singapore. The decision will allow the company to continue operating in Singapore after receiving in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in June.
Ripple said the license allows its subsidiary to further expand its on-demand liquidity service offering, an enterprise solution that uses XRP as a bridge between the two currencies. This eliminates the need to pre-fund destination accounts and reduces operating costs.
Ripple selected as contender for Georgia CBDC pilot
On September 28, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) announced that nine companies, including Ripple, will participate in its central bank digital currency (CBDC) research. Dubbed Digital Lari (GEL), the project aims to be programmable and support asset tokenization.
The Eastern European country of 3.7 million people intends to launch a limited-access, immediate pilot environment, and only one participating company will be selected to move forward. NBG announced that it is considering issuing a CBDC in May 2021, but did not provide a specific timetable.
Little impact on demand for XRP derivatives
XRP futures saw no meaningful change in demand, with open interest (a measure of the total notional number of contracts still in play) increasing by 13% from the previous day. Additionally, open interest currently stands at $590 million, down from $794 million a month ago.
Please note that the XRP futures funding rate has remained below 0.01% every eight hours, which is equivalent to 0.20% per week. Positive values indicate that long positions cover the cost of leverage, but funding rates below 1% per week are generally not considered expensive.
Considering the inability to breach the $0.54 mark (which would have been the highest level in six weeks) and the lack of demand for leverage via futures contracts, it is reasonable to wonder whether the recent positive news has convinced investors that XRP is about to enter a bull run.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading activity involves risks, and readers should do their own research when making decisions.
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