• XRP price flipped the 50-day EMA into a support line, however, the altcoin is expected to consolidate.
• SEC Chair Gary Gensler took a jibe at the crypto market on Wednesday, stating there is a lot of noncompliance in the space.
• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse replied to his comment, saying that Gensler had destroyed the integrity of the SEC.

Ripple has partially won the war against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but the sourness is still prevalent. While the SEC Chair attempts to place the regulatory body in a good light, the payment processor’s CEO seems dedicated to exposing the Commission’s hypocrisy.

Daily Digest Market Movers: Ripple CEO takes a shot at SEC

• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse took to X, formerly Twitter, this week to give his piece of mind on a recent comment by the SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The regulatory body’s leader spoke about the crypto space in a video he posted on the social media platform, wherein he pointed out the issues pertaining to bad actors in the crypto market.
• He stated that there was a considerable amount of noncompliance in the crypto space, which supposedly undermined the confidence of the investors. He added,

“Further, this can make it hard for the good faith actors to compete.

• However, this did not go down well with the crypto community, who were quick to correct Gensler and point out that the lack of clarity from the Commission is a leading reason for entities being trapped by SEC’s enforcement.
  Garlinghouse, not so surprisingly, stood with the community and hit out at the SEC Chair, stating,

“Stunning hypocrisy from the person who cozied up to the biggest fraud in recent memory. 

Gensler is a political liability whose actions have decimated consumers and destroyed the integrity of the SEC, while remaining buddy-buddy with Wall Street.

• This is the second time that Garlinghouse has called Gary Gensler a political liability, with a similar comment noted in November. Criticism towards Gensler has always been in regards to their stance against Ripple in the past, but with the Commission losing the Grayscale lawsuit and being forced by the court to approve the spot Bitcoin ETF applications, this animosity is expanding.

Technical Analysis: XRP price set to consolidate

XRP price, trading at $0.617 at the time of writing, has managed to remain above the $0.600 support line. However, by the looks of it, the altcoin is likely going to consolidate going forward. The reason behind this is the lack of bullish momentum being observed at the moment.

The price indicators are also seemingly neutral, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) standing at the neutral line at 50.0, while the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) acts as a support. This suggests that the cryptocurrency might witness sideways movement for a while, leading to consolidation.

XRP/USD 1-day chart

However, a gradual increase and a breach through the $0.644 resistance line might result in the invalidation of the bearish-neutral thesis. XRP price could eventually flip the same line into support to initiate a recovery rally towards $0.700.

SEC VS RIPPLE LAWSUIT FAQS

Is XRP a security?

It depends on the transaction, according to a court ruling released on July 14:

For institutional investors or over-the-counter sales, XRP is a security.
For retail investors who bought the token via programmatic sales on exchanges, on-demand liquidity services and other platforms, XRP is not a security.

How does the ruling affect Ripple in its legal battle against the SEC?

The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Ripple and its executives of raising more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered asset offering of the XRP token.

While the judge ruled that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, sales of XRP tokens to institutional investors are indeed investment contracts. In this last case, Ripple did breach the US securities law and will need to keep litigating over the around $729 million it received under written contracts.

What are the implications of the ruling for the overall crypto industry?

The ruling offers a partial win for both Ripple and the SEC, depending on what one looks at.

Ripple gets a big win over the fact that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, and this could bode well for the broader crypto sector as most of the assets eyed by the SEC’s crackdown are handled by decentralized entities that sold their tokens mostly to retail investors via exchange platforms, experts say.

Still, the ruling doesn’t help much to answer the key question of what makes a digital asset a security, so it isn’t clear yet if this lawsuit will set precedent for other open cases that affect dozens of digital assets. Topics such as which is the right degree of decentralization to avoid the “security” label or where to draw the line between institutional and programmatic sales are likely to persist.

Is the SEC stance toward crypto assets likely to change after the ruling?

The SEC has stepped up its enforcement actions toward the blockchain and digital assets industry, filing charges against platforms such as Coinbase or Binance for allegedly violating the US Securities law. The SEC claims that the majority of crypto assets are securities and thus subject to strict regulation.

While defendants can use parts of Ripple’s ruling in their favor, the SEC can also find reasons in it to keep its current strategy of regulation by enforcement.

Can the court ruling be overturned?

The court decision is a partial summary judgment. The ruling can be appealed once a final judgment is issued or if the judge allows it before then. The case is in a pretrial phase, in which both Ripple and the SEC still have the chance to settle.