Tokens That Pumped in the 2021 Crypto Bull Market Outpace the Market After SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Announces Resignation

Tokens that pumped in the most recent crypto bull market in 2021—namely, Ripple Labs’ XRP, Stellar Lumens’ XLM, and Cardano’s ADA—are outpacing the

Tokens that surged during the last crypto bull market in 2021 — namely, XRP, Stellar Lumens’ (XLM) and Cardano’s (ADA) — are outperforming the market over the past day after the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, announced on Thursday that he will be resigning from his position on Jan. 20.

XRP has jumped 20% in the last 24 hours to $1.44 and a market cap of $82 billion, levels not seen since April 2021, data from CoinGecko shows. Meanwhile, XLM and ADA also reached multi-year highs. XLM has increased 32% over the last 24 hours to a three-year high of 33 cents and a market cap of roughly $9.9 billion, while ADA has risen about 22% to 97 cents and a market cap of $34.8 billion, levels it hasn’t reached since April 2022. By comparison, the market cap for all cryptocurrencies has remained flat at $3.4 trillion over the same time period.

According to Max Sellers, head of sales at crypto data firm CCData, the price increases in the three tokens are largely attributable to Gensler revealing he will be stepping down as chairman of the SEC, a sign of a more crypto-friendly regulatory atmosphere to come. The SEC charged Ripple Labs in 2020 with raising funds through an unregistered securities offering, but the case was settled in August 2024.

Another factor in the tokens’ rise is their easier access for retail investors, Sellers said.

“Shows the return of retail investors,” Sellers told Unchained over Telegram of the recent price action. “These tokens have a low cost per unit price which often perform better as retail volume and Coinbase app downloads increase.”

XRP is the third most popular token on Binance and Coinbase by spot market 24-hour volume at $2.4 billion representing nearly 6.3% of total activity for the centralized exchange popular outside of the U.S. and roughly $1.1 billion making up 11% of overall volume for the firm dominant in the U.S.

Similar to Sellers, Jake O., an over-the-counter trader at Wintemute, also pointed to Coinbase’s rising popularity in Apple’s App Store as a sign that retail investors are returning and driving up the price of older tokens. “Participants who are re-entering have some familiarity with these names from the last cycle and naturally use them as proxies to express a view,” Ostrovskis told Unchained over email of the use of older tokens by returning investors. “These older names tend to have better distribution on ‘easy to use’ apps like Coinbase and Robinhood.”

The recent price surges in XRP, XLM, and ADA are a potential sign of the return of “altcoin season,” crypto parlance for a period when tokens other than BTC see large returns. “Many altcoins may be listed as exchange-traded products on major traditional exchanges over the next 6 months with a different SEC,” Sellers argued.

“This is definitely a big narrative for the altcoin season with greater demand and volume to come from more traditional larger asset managers,” Sellers added.