XRP Breaks Above $1 as SEC Chair Gary Gensler Prepares to Resign

XRP's recent surge has been impressive, with the Ripple-promoted crypto finally breaking above $1, a crucial technical and psychological assistance level.

As XRP price finally breaks above $1, some industry commentators are boldly asserting that the token may never see below $1 again. XRP, which has been a primary target during U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s leadership, spiked as the crypto foe prepares to resign in January.

After surging above the $1 mark on Nov. 16, XRP enjoyed a notable climb as Gensler revealed he would resign from his leadership position at the SEC when President-elect Donald Trump takes control of the White House in January.

The crypto, which hit three-year highs earlier this month, rallied to as high as $1.60 on Nov. 23 amid widespread belief of a shift toward a crypto-friendly regulatory environment for U.S.-based companies. However, the rally appeared to cool off as of press time.

Still up 32.4% in the past 7 days and 173.9% in the past month, the token was last spotted trading at $1.45, according to CoinGecko. As the coin eyes the $2 level, pundits are increasingly convinced that the days of XRP plummeting below $1 are long behind it.

“We will never see XRP below $1 again,” stated a popular crypto analyst who goes by the online moniker The Bearable Bull on the X platform.

US regulatory optimism increases over imminent SEC shakeup

Blockchain payments firm Ripple has been locked in a lawsuit with the SEC since 2020 on allegations of selling XRP as a security to U.S. investors.

Earlier this year, a federal judge slapped Ripple with a $125 million fine after finding last year that its institutional sales of XRP violated federal securities laws. However, she also ruled that the firm’s programmatic sales of the token to retail clients via exchanges did not violate any securities laws.

The SEC has since appealed a portion of the ruling. Nonetheless, investors are betting that while the regulator has hounded Ripple in court for years, a change in leadership at the SEC could lead to the regulator abandoning its four-year lawsuit altogether.

This is because they expect the upcoming Trump administration to foster policies conducive to the maturing of the crypto industry due to his previously expressed pro-crypto sentiments on the campaign trail.

With the likelihood of a favorable resolution of the Ripple case and the potential for a more lenient regulatory environment under a new regime, confidence in XRP is growing.

There are also expectations of spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the U.S. after the unprecedented success of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) ETFs.