3 Possible Reasons Behind Ripple’s (XRP) 15% Surge Past $1.6

Ripple’s native token has been among the best performers in the crypto market in the past few days, surging by over 60% since last Saturday. Despite retracing below $1.6, it reached that level for the first time since May of 2021.

Here are some of the possible reasons behind this impressive increase.

WisdomTree’s Ripple ETP

The Europe-based crypto asset manager WisdomTree has launched its latest exchange-traded product tracking the performance of a certain cryptocurrency, this time Ripple’s XRP.

The announcement reads that the WisdomTree Physical XRP ETP, with the ticker WXRP, is already live for trading on SIX Swiss exchange in USD and Swiss francs, on Euronext Amsterdam in USD, and on Xetra and Euronext Paris in euros.

“With risk-on sentiment building, altcoin exposures like XRP could outperform a standard bitcoin and ether allocation. XRP can sit alongside these mega caps in a multi-asset portfolio and reduce investors’ exposure to a single token.

Cryptocurrencies represent more than 1 per cent of the market portfolio, and should, therefore, be a component of a well-rounded investment strategy. As an asset class with low correlation to traditional asset classes, crypto can help enhance diversification and potentially improve risk-adjusted returns in a multi-asset portfolio.” – Commented the company’s Digital Assets Research Director, Dovile Silenskyte.

Gensler’s Exit

Perhaps the most valid reason behind XRP’s increase to over $1.6 earlier today is the hype by Gary Gensler’s announcement from Thursday evening. At the time, the current SEC chair said he would leave his position on the day the president-elect, Donald Trump, is inaugurated on January 20, 2025.

Although the move was expected, given Trump’s previous promise to fire Gensler on day 1 and the fact that SEC chairs have typically left their positions after a change in the presidency, it still sent shockwaves in the crypto industry.

Due to the four-year battle between the agency and Ripple, the latter’s native token skyrocketed by over 25% within the first 12 hours after the news broke. XRP went from about $1.15 to over $1.4. However, its rally continued on the next day, as mentioned above, and Gensler’s exit remains a highly plausible reason.

Regulatory Change and ETF Hopes

Gensler quitting the SEC is only a part of the overall wave of changes that will hit the US regulators after the Republicans take office. Reports are emerging frequently these days claiming that Trump has picked pro-crypto candidates for numerous key positions in his upcoming administration.

This is also regarded bullish for the entire market, which has added more than $1.2 trillion since the elections on November 5. XRP is no exception as, alongside other assets like Solana (SOL), is expected to have its own exchange-traded fund in the US. There have been a few filings with US regulators since September and experts believe the resolution could be just months away.

With a more favorable guard at the SEC, that resolution could be quite positive for the XRP army. After all, Ripple’s CEO has frequently noted that an XRP ETF is ‘inevitable.’

Also, the “average” turnaround time to get an ETF approved is 6-12 months so, we are probably looking at some time next summer (assuming things go as expected with the appeal).

— Jeremy Hogan (@attorneyjeremy1) November 18, 2024