This article is also available in Spanish.
Gary Gensler’s resignation as Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), effective January 20 – the same day President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated – is set to be a historic day for the XRP community. In his latest video, cryptocurrency analyst Rodney (@cryptojourneyrs) subscriber An analysis of the price potential in the post-Gensler era.
At the time of its analysis, XRP was trading at $1.43, reflecting a notable 172% increase over the past month. The market capitalization rose to $81 billion, accompanied by a daily trading volume of $22 billion. “XRP is starting to return to its natural place in the cryptocurrency space, being one of the dominant altcoins,” Rodney noted.
Why is XRP poised to rise?
Rodney notes in his video that Trump’s promise to fire Gensler on his first day in office may have influenced Gensler’s decision to preemptively resign. “Gary Gensler will step down as Chairman of the SEC on January 20, the same day Trump will be inaugurated,” Rodney stated. “Trump promised to fire Gary Gensler on day one, so I think Gary Gensler wanted to go out on his armor and resign on his own.”
Related reading
Reflecting on the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, Rodney noted the significant impact it had on price and market perception. “When the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, the price (of XRP) fell by 50%. This was one of many lawsuits that the SEC and Gary Gensler filed against several different cryptocurrency projects. “This was one of many lawsuits that the SEC and Gary Gensler filed against several different cryptocurrency projects,” Rodney said. “It seemed like they were trying to organize space out of existence.”
He noted that despite the legal challenges, XRP has remained one of the best cryptocurrencies. “Even through all the BS, XRP is still one of the best cryptocurrencies and has not fallen out of the top 10 in many years,” he said.
Rodney also discussed Ripple’s partial victory over the SEC in July 2023, which sets an important precedent for the cryptocurrency industry. However, he expressed surprise that the price did not react more favorably at that time.
“When we heard about this news about them partially beating the SEC, XRP started pumping to about $0.67, but then immediately dropped to about $0.50 and didn’t really do anything,” he noted. “It wasn’t moving with the cryptocurrency market at all… It was a running joke that it was kind of our favorite stablecoin.”
Turning to the political scene, Rodney explained: “Donald Trump has already finished destroying Kamala Harris and will be the next president of the United States.” He emphasized Trump’s pro-crypto stance, noting that he “was more open about supporting cryptocurrencies” and was “the first president to buy anything in cryptocurrency.”
Rodney highlighted the involvement of several cryptocurrency projects in political campaigns, noting that “several cryptocurrency products were funding the campaigns of both candidates behind the scenes.”
Related reading
With the political shift, Rodney expressed optimism about the future integration of cryptocurrencies into government systems. “Now more than ever, it seems that cryptocurrencies will be involved in our government, and in my opinion, XRP will be present in the best projects,” he emphasized.
He elaborated on the core goals of XRP, saying: “What is XRP trying to do? They want to be used for international money transfers (…) They want to enable fast and low-cost international money transfers and currency exchanges. He noted that with supporting figures in government, XRP can realize this potential.
How high can the price of XRP rise?
Rodney also delved into his XRP price predictions, taking into account different market cap scenarios.
If XRP achieves Ethereum’s market cap of about $400 billion, it would result in a 4.9x increase from its current price, bringing the price of XRP to about $6.98. “Let’s say, for example, that XRP becomes part of our government and we’re actually using it for its real benefit. Everyone’s using it, and you’ve magically gotten the same amount of market cap as Ethereum.
He imagined XRP reaching Bitcoin’s market cap of about $2 trillion, and calculated a 24-fold increase, which would put XRP at roughly $33. “Let’s imagine something even crazier (…) Let’s say we give it the size of Bitcoin’s market capitalization, which is currently about $2 trillion,” he mused.
He considered $10 worth of XRP, equivalent to a market cap of $600 billion, to be a reasonable possibility. “I think XRP at $10 or XRP with a market cap of $600 billion is reasonable,” he concluded.
However, Rodney acknowledged the challenges inherent in these forecasts, noting that “it would be difficult for any cryptocurrency project to reach those amounts of market capitalization because Bitcoin dominates the entire market right now.”
At press time, XRP was trading at $1.40.
Featured image created with DALL.E, a chart from TradingView.com