thecryptobasic.com
Ripple’s damage has been done since its lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission began.
Ripple (XRP) has fallen far below its initial position in the global cryptocurrency ranking by market capitalization, taking it away from the big wigs, a devastating move that has caused investors vast sums of money.
XRP Rally in 2017 Cut Short by SEC’s Comments
In late 2017 during the massive cryptocurrency rally that saw the price of Bitcoin skyrocket to $20,000 at the time, XRP was in the second position, ranked behind Bitcoin.
XRP hit an all-time high (ATH) of $3.40 in January 2018 and continued to enjoy a prosperous spell in the second position.
However, the feat did not last long, as the cryptocurrency was overtaken by Ethereum following comments from former SEC director William Hinman, who stated that BTC and ETH are not securities but currencies.
SEC Lawsuit Hurts XRP Position
Ethereum immediately usurped Ripple, and the cryptocurrency had to sit at the third position.
While Ripple enthusiasts were still hoping that the XRP coin would overtake ETH, the SEC came with its charges stating that the company breached its laws by not registering with the agency.
The charges were slammed against Ripple and two of its executives, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, in December 2020.
Ever since Ripple has embarked on a lengthy lawsuit with the SEC that has lasted more than a year, following the lawsuit, U.S.-based exchanges were forced to halt support for the coin, forcing the cryptocurrency to lose a large percentage of its market capitalization volume.
XRP, which was comfortably sitting in the third position in the global cryptocurrency ranking moments before the charges, has fallen to the seventh position, with a market cap of $39.58 billion.
Ripple is closely followed by Terra (LUNA) and Cardano (ADA), having less than a billion in market cap compared to XRP.
Last week, Ripple was overtaken by Solana (SOL), which currently sits in the sixth position with a market cap of $42.2 billion.
All Eyes on Ripple’s Lawsuit
With XRP edged out by Solana and close to being overtaken by LUNA and ADA, investors’ hope currently lies in the outcome of the blockchain company’s lawsuit with the SEC.
While Ripple plans to end the lawsuit in earnest, the SEC is bent on stalling the outcome. It has continued to employ different delay tactics to frustrate the blockchain company and its executive into reaching a settlement agreement that will be in its favor.
So far, many legal and crypto experts who have weighed into the case are of the opinion that Ripple will come out victorious, but the primary issue is the SEC’s delay tactics.
However, a verdict is expected to be reached in the coming weeks, as stated in Ripple’s recent court filings.
While expectations are high, Ripple’s enthusiasts will be hopeful that the lawsuit’s outcome swings in favor of the cryptocurrency to enable it to reclaim the previous glory days that saw it rank in the top three biggest cryptocurrencies.