XRP surges double digits to new 3-year high as ETF speculation increases

XRP has risen to its highest level since May 2021, hitting a high of $1.67 on Friday morning, according to data from CoinGecko.

At the time of publication the Price of XRP settled at $1.66, up 13.8% on the day and 12.8% over the past week. Its price movement This comes amid growing speculation that an XRP exchange traded fund (ETF) could be on the horizon, as well as optimism about the potential for changes at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Monday, global ETF provider WisdomTree registered an XRP ETF in the state of Delaware Fox business– the first step towards product approval. On Wednesday, the European XRP ETP was renamed Bitwise physical XRP ETP As Ripple said, it will invest in the fund.

“Global demand for exposure to the crypto asset class has exploded in 2024, driven by growing interest in crypto-backed investment offerings,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said as the company announced plans to invest in the Bitwise fund.

In October, Garlinghouse said he believed the approval of an XRP ETF was “inevitable.”

This comes in a year where both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs were approved in the US, allowing traditional investors to buy into cryptocurrencies. At the time of writing, US Bitcoin ETFs manage assets worth $107.14 billion CoinGlasswhile Ethereum ETFs have done so $10.74 billion assets under management.

“As the regulatory environment for crypto in the US finally becomes clearer, this trend will accelerate and further drive demand for crypto ETPs,” Garlinghouse said.

XRP has been embroiled in litigation with the SEC since 2020 after the regulator claimed the asset was an unregistered security. In 2023 A federal judge ruled that XRP “is not necessarily a security at first glance”. Then in October of this year The SEC appealed key aspects of the ruling related to the sale of XRP on digital asset trading platforms and personal sales by Ripple executives.

This regulatory and legal uncertainty has cast a dark shadow over the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. With the news that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is preparing to leave the regulator As Trump assumes the presidency, some of those clouds have disappeared raised.

As news of Gensler’s impending departure broke last week, XRP broke through its three-year high to hit $1.49 – and has surpassed it three times since. However, the token is still 51% below its all-time high of $3.40, reached in January 2018 – almost seven years ago.