• Ripple (XRP) could score another victory once the Inspector General establishes a conflict of interest within the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

• A verdict on the alleged conflict of interest and Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling on the penalty amount could “make or break” the XRP price in the short term. 

The XRP price only managed a marginal surge of 1% in the last 24 hours to retain its $0.43 mark, representing a little improvement from the 0.97% gain recorded on Tuesday, July 9.

According to our data, the asset also surged by 2.7% on Monday to trade at $0.4355 as the broad market halted its downward trend to stabilize above its July 7 lows. 

Analysts believe that the lack of significant updates on the SEC vs Ripple court case played a larger role in the little market movements. Currently, XRP investors and stakeholders anxiously await a verdict on penalties Ripple must pay for breaching securities laws. 

On this, Crypto News Flash earlier highlighted that the SEC is seeking $2 billion in penalties, however, the defence lawyers only proposed $10 million, positioning the expected penalty range from $10 million to $2 billion. In addition to this, there are many expectations on the ruling of a possible prohibition of XRP sales to US institutional investors. According to experts, Judge Analisa Torres could make this decision if she finds enough reason to think that Ripple continued to breach US Securities laws after the December 2020 complaint. 

XRP Price Could Benefit from Ongoing Investigation Against SEC

With all of these possessing the potential to impact the XRP price, investors are keenly following the ongoing investigation into an alleged conflict of interest in the SEC. As we formerly reported, Empower Oversight announced that the Office of Inspector General (IG) was on the verge of finalizing its investigation into a possible violation that relates to a speech made by former SEC Corporation Finance Director William Hinman. 

In 2018, Hinman stated emphatically that both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) were not securities. According to Empower Oversight, he reportedly received millions of dollars from his former employer Simpson Thacher while working at SEC. At that time, he went against several warnings from the SEC Ethics Division to meet Simpson Thacher while affiliated with the Commission. 

For context, Simpson Thacher was an integral part of a group that promoted Enterprise Ethereum. According to Empower Oversight, Hinman joined Thacher right after leaving the Commission. 

More on the Empower Oversight vs SEC Case

In March 2024, Empower Oversight also reported to have sent a FOIA request for records targeting William Hinman and former SEC Chair Jay Clayton on possible ethical violations. According to Empower Oversight, Jay Clayton supported Hinman’s speech and publicly announced that Bitcoin was not a security. After leaving the SEC, Clayton joined the crypto hedge fund One River Asset Management which focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum. To experts, a successful exposure of a conflict of interest within the Commission could force them to backtrack the decision to appeal the earlier ruling favoring XRP. 

In other news, decentralized exchange Uniswap Labs has warned the regulator against a rulemaking that could change the definition of an exchange. 

Today @Uniswap Labs urged the SEC not to proceed with its proposed rulemaking that would dramatically and improperly expand the definition of an ‘exchange’ to include DeFi and more. 1/x— Katherine Minarik (@MinarikLaw) July 9, 2024

At the time of this publication, XRP was still hovering below the 50-day and 200-day EMAs. Analysts believe that a breakout above the $0.45 mark could signal a surge to the trendlines and the 50-day EMA, giving bulls the control to move towards the 200-day EMA. However, a fall below the $0.42 mark could send the price to $0.40. 

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