Ripple CEO’s Legal Battle Weighs on XRP’s Price

3 min read
  • Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse faces trial over allegedly misleading 2017 statements about XRP, which has caused the cryptocurrency to remain below the $0.50 resistance level.
  • Despite bullish technical indicators, legal uncertainties continue to weigh on XRP’s price movement.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse to Face Trial Over 2017 Statements

XRP, the digital asset associated with Ripple, continues to struggle below the $0.50 mark. This comes as Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse prepares to face trial in California over statements he made in a 2017 interview. In this interview, Garlinghouse claimed to be “very, very long XRP” while simultaneously selling millions of XRP tokens, raising questions about the truthfulness of his statements and their compliance with securities laws.

The trial, which has drawn significant attention from the cryptocurrency community, centers on whether Garlinghouse’s comments were misleading and violated California’s securities laws. Ripple’s legal team argues that XRP does not meet the criteria of a security under the Howey Test, thus contesting the validity of the misleading statements claim. However, Judge Phyllis Hamilton has allowed the trial to proceed, differentiating her stance from a previous ruling by Judge Analisa Torres, who had declared that XRP did not satisfy the Howey Test.

Daily Digest: Market Movers and Legal Battles

Judge Hamilton’s decision to dismiss four class action claims against Ripple but proceed with one state law claim against Garlinghouse has stirred debates among XRP holders and legal experts. They are particularly interested in how this trial might affect the broader SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit and the interpretation of past rulings. Attorney Bill Morgan and other Ripple proponents are scrutinizing the implications of Judge Torres’ previous ruling, especially in the context of XRP sales on exchanges and institutional transactions.

Technical Analysis: XRP Struggles Below $0.50

Despite the legal uncertainties, technical indicators for XRP suggest a range-bound movement. On Friday, XRP was trading at $0.4915, failing to break the $0.50 resistance level for the second consecutive day. The price action suggests a potential dip to the Fair Value Gap, which spans from $0.4813 to $0.4886, before making another attempt to surpass the $0.50 resistance.

The resistance at $0.5015, corresponding with the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the March 11 high of $0.7429 to the April 13 low of $0.4269, remains a critical level to watch. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator shows a bullish signal with green histogram bars above the neutral line, although this has yet to translate into a significant price increase.

A close below the Fair Value Gap’s lower boundary at $0.4813 could negate the bullish outlook, potentially driving XRP down to the June 7 low of $0.4551, a support level that has been maintained for over two months. As the legal proceedings unfold, XRP traders and investors will be closely monitoring these technical levels and the trial’s impact on market sentiment.

As Ripple’s legal battles intensify, XRP’s price movements remain closely tied to the unfolding events, with significant resistance and support levels dictating its short-term trajectory.

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