A Year In $XRP: The Former Bitcoin Challenger's Story Of Redemption And Retribution

There was a time when XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the XRP Ledger, was only second to Bitcoin in market capitalization, but things got shaky along the way, especially after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit over fintech firm Ripple's sales of the XRP token.

Fast forward to 2024, and XRP is back at $2, still in the red amid the broader crypto market downturn, but stronger than ever and less volatile than it has ever been in the last four years.

This is how XRP, one of the top altcoins that outperformed Bitcoin in 2024, overcame the SEC's "aggression" and became the crypto industry's revival story of the year.

January – $XRP Opens Year In the Lows

In January, roughly three years since the SEC filed a lawsuit alleging securities laws violations by Ripple over its XRP sales, the altcoin's price started the month at around $0.60 only to begin February at $0.49.

At the time, Ripple was already one step ahead of the SEC in legal wins after a federal judge ruled in 2023 that XRP isn't a security when offered on exchanges. However, the impact of the SEC's years-long pursuit of Ripple and XRP made the climb back to higher prices difficult.

March – SEC Makes Unprecedented Move

Despite Ripple's 2023 legal victory, the American financial regulator continued to hound the company, and in March, it was a quiet move to file remedies-related briefs and supporting documents in its lawsuit.

The SEC's revamped filing was made public later in the month. It demanded a staggering $2 billion in fines and penalties over Ripple's alleged unregistered security sales of XRP.

The documents dampened hopes for the XRP token and triggered FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) in the crypto community over the digital asset's future.

July – Expanding Amid the Legal Scuffle

By the start of the second half of 2024, Ripple Labs expanded in South Korea and Japan. In particular, Ripple announced it was establishing a new XRPL Japan and Korea Fund, fueling excitement among XRP users.

Infinite Block, South Korea's only government-licensed virtual asset provider (VASP), also announced support for the XRP Ledger in July.

August – Who Actually Won?

The bitter legal scuffle between the SEC and Ripple was supposed to end in August after the court ordered the company to pay $125 million in civil penalties.

For the SEC, it won the battle, but for many crypto observers, the last laugh was from Ripple, considering how the regulator's initial push of $2 billion in fines had been significantly cut.

October – SEC Refuses to Lose

The SEC, under outgoing Chair Gary Gensler, refused to accept defeat, filing an appeal to the 2023 court ruling in its Ripple lawsuit.

Ripple fought back, yet again, filing a cross-appeal in the case and promising to not bend to the Wall Street regulator's demands. Ripple's Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, previously said he wasn't surprised the SEC filed an appeal but reiterated that XRP's status as a non-security was out of the question.

By this time, many crypto leaders had showered support on the company, which oversees the development of the XRP Ledger. Some crypto lawyers also said the SEC's latest move was a losing bet and will not change the ruling over XRP's status as a non-security.

November – $XRP Finally Back at $1

Ripple was one of the major crypto firms that pushed for better regulations that support not just consumer protection, but also tech innovation. When President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential race, things changed for XRP and many other cryptocurrencies.

It is also worth noting that even before Trump won, the crypto industry was already fixated on XRP and Ripple after Bitwise filed for an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF), opening a pathway for other interested institutions to follow suit.

Indeed, Bitwise's move grabbed the attention of Canary Capital and soon enough, filed an S1 form with the SEC for its own XRP ETF. 21Shares soon followed suit.

By mid-November, XRP prices returned to the $1 mark, even flipping top memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE) in market value. The XRP Army was in full-blown celebration mode, not knowing the token would surge higher.

December – The Redemption of $XRP and the Birth of $RLUSD

As the crypto industry reached the end of 2024, Ripple and XRP were already big names once more in the space.

The biggest milestone was XRP's return to the third spot in the world's rankings of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. It flipped stablecoin behemoth Tether (USDT) and hit $2 – a price it was trading at when it challenged Bitcoin in the ranking rivalry back in 2017. At the time, it overtook Ethereum (ETH) in the Top 2 spot.

In December, XRP also broke its previous all-time high in 2017, ending a seven-year drought for what was once recognized as the potential biggest threat to Bitcoin's dominance.

In an interview with 60 Minutes earlier this month, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said he believes crypto had an impact on the outcome of the U.S. elections after crypto leaders moved to educate voters about digital assets and blockchain technology support.

He also said the unity of crypto leaders in support of Trump's campaign was a "reaction" to the SEC's war on crypto.

While many non-crypto users may not have been aware of Ripple's arduous journey to redemption and XRP's SEC retribution by returning to its $2 price even after the legal beatdown, the XRP Army can't feel more vindicated. In a way, helping elect pro-crypto leaders was Ripple and the XRP community's retribution toward a financial regulator it accused of regulatory overreach.

Finally, Ripple launched its RLUSD stablecoin to much fanfare. While it has yet to reach the same levels as USDT or USDC, many observers have said RLUSD has a lot of potential, not just for utility but also to give a bigger boost to XRP's price.

RLUSD is also expected to shine in the coming months amid fears that Tether's USDT may be faced with delistings in the European Union amid the MiCA regulation's full implementation.