XRP jumped after the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped a lawsuit against two executives from Ripple Labs, a crypto company with close ties to the token.
The coin saw its biggest single-day gain in three months following the news on Thursday, which sent it to a high of about 52 cents, up from 47 cents earlier in the day. The coin was still up more than 7% over 24 hours, at 51 cents, as of Friday, according to CoinGecko.
The momentous gains came after the SEC dropped civil charges against Ripple executives Christian Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse. The agency had alleged that the pair misled investors related to the sale of more than $1 billion in XRP tokens, which it claimed were unregistered securities.
In July, a federal judge gave Ripple a partial victory by ruling that the sale of XRP on exchanges, mostly to individual investors, did not constitute a security. The SEC had looked to quickly appeal the decision, but that option was blocked by a judge. Because the regulator eventually dropped the charges, Garlinghouse and Larsen will avoid a jury trial that had been scheduled for 2024.
The XRP token has mostly had a sleepy 2023. While others rallied during the crypto bull market of 2021, it had a more subdued performance, despite its “army” of superfans.
The token previously hit highs in July after the previous ruling tied to its lawsuit with the SEC, peaking at 82 cents.
Elsewhere in the crypto market, the two leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether, were both on the rise Friday. Bitcoin was up 4.3%, around $29,600, and Ether was up 3.4%, near $1,600.