- Ripple filed a letter to the court to support its April 22 motion to strike new expert materials.
- The legal clash concerns whether SEC accountant Andrea Fox’s testimony should be treated as a summary or expert witness.
- XRP closed above $0.51 on Wednesday, beginning a mild recovery after a nearly ten-day decline.
Ripple (XRP) continues to recover on Friday from its almost ten-day decline, clinging to gains after closing above $0.51 on Wednesday.
In the legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – which is one of the key drivers of XRP price – both parties are clashing over the validity of the testimony of SEC’s Assistant Chief Accountant Andrea Fox. Ripple filed on Thursday a new letter supporting its motion to strike new expert materials as it considers Fox’s statements as expert testimony and argues that the regulator should have introduced expert testimony during the remedies discovery phase that has passed.
The SEC is expected to file its response by May 6, following which market participants expect a ruling from the court.
Daily Digest Market Movers: Ripple files letter to support striking expert materials
- The SEC included Assistant Chief Accountant Andrea Fox’s comments on Ripple’s financial statements in its filing. Ripple identified this as “new expert materials” and argued that this should have been introduced in the remedies discovery phase of the lawsuit, which has already ended.
- The SEC responded to Ripple arguing that the comments from Fox aren’t expert testimony, but “facts and some basic arithmetic.” Therefore, the SEC has asked the court to deny Ripple’s motion to strike new expert materials from the lawsuit.
- Ripple has filed a letter to support its motion on Thursday.
- In its letter, Ripple addresses why Fox’s statements amount to expert testimony, why they should have been presented in the previous phase of the lawsuit, and how the expert is relying on her accounting experience to analyze the firm’s financial statements.
- Irrespective of the fact whether Fox is an expert or a summary witness, the SEC was required to disclose it prior to the close of the remedies-discovery phase, Ripple’s letter reads.
- The SEC is expected to file a response by May 6, after which the court could rule on Ripple’s penalties and fines for its institutional sales of XRP. The SEC has asked the court to impose $2 billion in fines, while the payment-remittance firm countered with a proposal of $10 million.
- The SEC originally took Ripple to court in late 2020, alleging that the firm had broken securities law with its sales of XRP. In July, the company scored a partial victory as a judge ruled that XRP sales on exchanges were not considered as securities. However, the legal battle continues regarding sales to institutional investors.
Technical analysis: XRP closes above $0.51 on Thursday, eyes further gains
Ripple ended its downward trend on Friday, April 19. Since then the altcoin has formed a higher high and a higher low, on the daily timeframe.
Ripple closed above $0.51 on Wednesday, a level that acted as sticky resistance for the altcoin. The climb above this level ended nearly ten days of decline. XRP is likely climbing towards $0.5478, a level at which a higher volume of XRP was traded, as seen on the Volume Profile indicator.
The Volume Profile indicator takes the total volume traded at a specific price level during the specified time period and helps traders identify price levels where the most volume of the asset was traded, helping determine key support and resistance levels.
The Point of Control (PoC) is at $0.6162, this represents the level at which the highest trade volume was recorded. In its uptrend, XRP is expected to gravitate towards this level.
XRP could add nearly 6% to its value, climbingonce it climbs to the target of $0.5458. Further up, XRP/USD , and faces immediate resistance at $0.5574, the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of Ripple’s decline between April 9 ($0.6431) and April 13 ($0.4188), and $0.5787, key resistance on the weekly time frame.
XRP/USDT 1-day chart
On the other hand, a daily candlestick close below support on the weekly chart, at $0.4868, could invalidate the thesis of XRP price recovery. The altcoin could sweep April 13 low of $0.4188 in its correction.
Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.
Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin’s market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.
