• The US judge granted the SEC’s appeal process in its lawsuit against XRP’s issuer Ripple Labs.
• Macroeconomic headwinds have been weighing on crypto sentiment, while Bitcoin and Ether have broken below major support levels.
• XRP is currently trading 20% lower on the week, down nearly 50% from its 1-year highs.
Judge Grants SEC Appeal Process in Ripple Case
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been granted an appeal process by Judge Torres in its lawsuit against Ripple Labs over the issuance of XRP tokens. This should add another 3-6 months before a ruling can be issued.
Cryptocurrency Sentiment Weighed Down By Macro Factors
Cryptocurrency sentiment has been weighed down by macroeconomic factors such as rising US long-dated bond yields, which suggests higher interest rates for longer, and a pullback in US stocks correlated to crypto markets. Additionally, August’s thinner than usual liquidity conditions also contributed to bearishness towards cryptocurrencies. Finally, Bitcoin and Ether both broke below major support levels calling their uptrends into question.
XRP Falls Hard Amid Crypto Rout
As a result of all these factors, XRP has fallen hard this week – it is now trading more than 16% up from Thursday’s lows but still down around 20% on the week and nearly 50% from its one year highs earlier this year in the $0.90s range.
Ripple Lawsuit Could Delay Ruling Further
The additional factor likely weighing on XRP sentiment is the fact that Judge Torres granted an appeal process to the SEC which could delay a ruling even further – potentially adding three to six more months onto proceedings before any decision is made public.
Conclusion
It remains to be seen how Ripple’s case will end up playing out but what is clear right now is that XRP continues to trade lower amid a broader rout across cryptocurrency markets which has seen other major tokens like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) take big hits too