Jeremy Hogan, a popular legal expert, has expressed worries about the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s alleged plans to force Ripple to dump $2 billion worth of XRP tokens onto the market amid the ongoing legal fights between Ripple Labs and the SEC.
The expert’s claims have rekindled discussions about regulatory overreach and how it can affect XRP’s price dynamics. Attorney Hogan brought up the SEC’s recent request for a final ruling in the Ripple case.
The regulatory body asked the court in its request to punish Ripple with $2 billion for allegedly breaking federal securities rules by selling XRP tokens to institutions. The legal position of Ripple and the XRP token has recently become clearer, yet the price of XRP has mostly stayed the same.
Ripple Disclose 45.77 Billion in Escrow, SEC Pushes For Fine
In reaction to Hogan’s comments and the current legal dispute with the SEC, Ripple has reiterated its resolve to fight back against the accusations and prove its case in court. The company insists that XRP is not a security and has promised to keep up the legal battle in order to secure a good result for its investors.
Should the court judgment go the way of the SEC to impose a $2 billion fine on Ripple, the company may be compelled to sell off more of its XRP. A report from SEC says as of December 2023, Ripple has 45.77 billion units of XRP in their escrow. And with the XRP shifting grounds at $0.62, the company would be selling 3,225,806,451 units to raise $2 billion.
It is believed that Ripple may be paying this fine from its reserves. Recall that in early January this year, Brad Garlinghouse, the Ripple CEO, revealed that the company has a cash reserve of $1 billion and $25 billion in cryptocurrency, which includes a mixture of XRP and other cryptocurrencies.
Hogan’s Observation May Affect The Cryptocurrency Market, Expert Warns
Many think that regardless of short-term price swings and regulatory pressure, XRP’s long-term value will ultimately be determined by its core fundamentals and usefulness as a digital asset. Hogan’s claim about how the SEC’s activities would affect the XRP market has drawn attention to more general issues around regulatory monitoring.
The SEC’s assertive approach towards Ripple has generated debate; detractors claim that it stunts creativity and hinders the growth of the cryptocurrency market. Lele Jima, an industry analyst with Decrypt, says that the proportionality of regulatory enforcement actions is called into doubt by the SEC’s purported attempt to pay Ripple $2 billion.
Such hefty fines, according to critics, can negatively impact Ripple’s business practices as well as the larger XRP ecosystem, eroding investor trust and impeding the token’s price recovery. The XRP community and its investors have also commented on the slow pace at which the XRP is rising compared to what’s applicable with other cryptocurrencies in the market.
More Evidence of XRP Price Suppression Emerge, Investors Comment
The XRP was traded at $0.74, from $0.06 for many months, on several occasions amid the presence of legal clarity. This was compared to Bitcoin, which had its price go up by over 60% to reach a new all-time high of $73,737 within a month.
They believe the coin the token is experiencing price suppression by unknown external forces, hence, the underperformance. Further investigation into the development shows that Ripple usually sells a large chunk of XRP monthly and releases over a billion XRP from the escrow account each month. It moves back 800 million into escrow and remains the other 200 million XRPs, putting them up for sale to On Demand Liquidity (ODL) customers.
Profit from the sales of these tokens is directed at covering most of Ripple’s operational cost, as well as its legal cost against the SEC. However, many industry experts have maintained that there has not been a strong conviction to prove that there’s a price suppression agenda on XRP by the SEC or any other government agency.
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