Bitcoin Jumps as Traders Cheer Ripple-SEC Ruling. What Comes Next.
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Bitcoin has stagnated around $30,000 for weeks, but a catalyst has finally caused a breakout.
Dreamstime
Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies marched higher Friday in the wake of a partial win for the digital asset industry in a closely watched legal case between the issuer of the Ripple token and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The price of
Bitcoin
has risen 2% over the past 24 hours to $31,200, breaking out of a trading range between $30,000 and $31,000 that has persisted for weeks and notching a new 13-month high above $31,750.
Catalyzing the jump was a federal court ruling on Thursday that a crypto token didn’t, in and of itself, meet the definition of a security. While there is little debate on Bitcoin being a security—most agree it is more like a commodity—the ruling has important implications for smaller tokens and the digital asset industry at large, the success of which can also buoy the biggest crypto.
“Bitcoin itself will rise on the coattails of this ruling—a rising tide lifts all boats—and (briefly) broke though the upper end of its recent … trading range, where it’s been residing for three weeks,” said Antoni Trenchev, managing partner at crypto lender Nexo. “Keep an eye on $32,000 because if Bitcoin breaks through that, the upper $30,000s beckon.”
This latest rally only builds on gains Bitcoin had seen earlier in the week, with cryptos rising alongside the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500
in the stock market amid signs of cooling inflation. This trend should push the Federal Reserve to be less aggressive on interest rates—the dramatic rise of which was a headwind for cryptos last year—and begin cutting rates next year, which would support risk-sensitive assets like stocks and cryptos.
Beyond Bitcoin,
Ether
—the second-largest crypto—climbed 6% to just shy of $2,000.
Ripple,
the token at the heart of the court ruling, spiked almost 70%, with other smaller tokens or “altcoins” following suit with big gains. Memecoins were also stronger, with
Dogecoin
up 7% and
Shiba Inu
advancing 5%.
Write to Jack Denton at jack.denton@barrons.com