The Soaring Rise of the Crypto Asset Ripple (XRP)

Recently, a cryptocurrency called Ripple has been soaring, breaking through 3 dollars on exchanges.
(Ripple is also referred to as XRP, and the two terms are generally used interchangeably on Korean exchanges. Here, we will refer to the cryptocurrency Ripple as XRP.)
Even if we skip the difficult and complex computer-technology aspects of XRP, it is good to know what this cryptocurrency does.
XRP is a technology for digital payments, and it is a cryptocurrency created with the goal of processing international remittances between financial institutions faster.
When international remittances are settled with XRP, they become faster and the fees become cheaper.
This means that XRP can make financial institutions' international remittance methods simpler and faster, improving on the existing methods, which are complex and slow.
Because of these features, it is expanding its partnerships with many financial institutions around the world.
So why is XRP, with these features, rising on crypto exchanges? Let's look at the reasons.
First, the US Trump administration is pushing for tax exemptions for US-based cryptocurrencies, and additional approvals of crypto ETF products are expected.
XRP is Ripple Labs' cryptocurrency, and Ripple Labs is a company headquartered in the US.
Second, the Japanese company SBI Holdings is making continued investments in XRP. This also sends a positive signal to other institutional investors.
Third, the number of financial company partners worldwide linked to XRP is increasing. This raises expectations that XRP could grow into an increasingly mainstream means of payment.
And there is one biggest reason. It is the expectation that the legal battle with the SEC may come to an end.
Ripple Labs' chief legal officer said that if the SEC chair steps down, the legal battle with the SEC would end, signaling that the lawsuit that had troubled Ripple Labs for a long time could come to an end*.
Ripple Labs has been in litigation with the SEC since 2020 over unregistered securities.
The lawsuit was over the claim that XRP should be classified as a security, not a cryptocurrency.
If it were classified as a security, it would have to be sold as a security through the SEC, but that had not been done so far, which is why the lawsuit was filed.
The prevailing view is that XRP broke through 3 dollars as expectations grew that this legal battle would end.
The market expects that if it ultimately ends in Ripple Labs' victory, it will affect the status of other cryptocurrencies as well, and the value of XRP will rise further.
Many believe that the reason XRP's price failed to rise in the past, as Bitcoin's did, stemmed from this lawsuit.
Given that sentiment toward cryptocurrencies is positive in 2025, if this long-standing negative factor ends, XRP may reflect even the gains it missed out on and rise even more strongly.
However, no matter how many positive views there are, if an unexpected negative event hits the cryptocurrency market as a whole, even the best positive news may have no effect.
It is important to view investment based on XRP's positive outlook, but before that, we should not neglect analyzing the cryptocurrency market itself.