Bitcoin and Crypto Stocks Like Coinbase Soar as XRP Ruling Bolsters Optimism

Cryptocurrencies across the board rallied along with crypto-related stocks after a federal judge ruled that the sale of Ripple’s XRP tokens on exchanges and through algorithms did not violate federal securities laws.

Bitcoin (BTC) pushed through $31,000 resistance, rising to $31,700 at press time, its highest level in over a year, according to CoinDesk data.

Several blockchain native tokens, such as Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), and Cardano (ADA), all of which the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) deemed unregistered securities in previous lawsuits, rose about 15% on the news. XRP itself rose about 70% to $0.80.

Among stocks, Coinbase – the subject of its own SEC lawsuit in June alleging the sale of unregistered securities – soared 24% to its highest level since August 2022 and MicroStrategy (MSTR) added 12%. Crypto miners were also sharply higher, with Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) gaining 14% and Hut 8 Mining (HUT) jumping 19%.

“Investors have been on the sidelines due to the Security and Exchange (SEC) having a very public and harsh view on crypto,” Charles Storry, head of growth at crypto index platform Phuture said. “The Ripple case ruling has been the start of some of that capital beginning to enter the space.”

Coinbase tweeted shortly after the decision that it would re-enable trading for XRP-USD, XRP-USDT and XRP-EUR trading pairs on the XRP network as soon as there is sufficient liquidity.

“Traders have been waiting for a Ripple ruling for a long time and it has always been discussed as a large potential catalyst,” Will Sheehan, CEO & Founder of Parsec said.