Crypto trading jumps after Ripple’s partial victory over US SEC determining some crypto sales are not securities
- Trading volume of Ripple’s XRP token surged 1,700 per cent to US$11.3 billion on July 14 while tokens such as Solana’s SOL and Cardano’s ADA also got a lift
- A US court ruled last week that XRP was a security when sold to institutions but not when bought by retail investors, limiting how the SEC can police crypto
Parts of the crypto market saw frenzied trading following a break in the regulatory clouds surrounding the US digital-asset sector.
The spike stemmed from a July 13 court decision in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Ripple Labs Inc. The ruling served to dent the SEC’s argument that most tokens are securities that fall under its strict purview.
Spot trading volume in XRP, the coin associated with Ripple and which was at the heart of the SEC lawsuit, jumped more than 1,700 per cent to US$11.3 billion on July 14 from US$614 million a day earlier, according to data from CoinGecko.
XRP is one of more than a dozen coins, such as Solana’s SOL and Cardano’s ADA, that the SEC singled out in various lawsuits as unregistered securities, a designation that can make them harder to trade and hence repel investors.
Investor relief swept across those assets too: SOL spot volumes were 72 per cent higher on July 14 versus the daily average for the month so far, while for ADA they were three times higher, CoinGecko figures indicate.
Bitcoin is seen as a commodity and hence shielded from the securities debate but it still saw a lift in trading. Over US$21 billion of the token changed hands on July 14 and the subsequent day – about 70 per cent above this month’s daily average.