Ripple counters U.S. SEC’s fresh claim as XRP continues to surge

– XRP was the best-performing major coin in the market over the last 30 days.

– A majority of the investors positioned themselves for price gains as the number of long positions taken for XRP increased.

The new year seems to have brought a ray of hope for the payments-focused crypto protocol Ripple [XRP], which has been locked in a tense legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since December 2020.

Realistic or not, here’s XRP’s market cap in BTC terms

As per CoinMarketCap, XRP was the best-performing major coin in the market over the last 30 days. With gains of over 42% at press time, it eclipsed the likes of Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and Binance Coin [BNB].

The surge could be fueled by the growing optimism among the XRP community, over a positive resolution in the Ripple vs. SEC case, the verdict of which is speculated to come in the first half of 2023.

Meanwhile, the ongoing dispute has taken another turn.

Ripple counters SEC’s claims

Ripple’s legal team has responded to the SEC’s letter of supplemental authority supporting its Motion for summary judgment.

In a letter filed by lawyer Michael K. Kellogg, Ripple argued that the case cited by the SEC did not provide any grounds to dismiss their fair notice defense in the ongoing case.

The SEC filed a new argument against Ripple earlier in the week where it referenced a prior case against Commonwealth Equity Services to justify the rejection of Ripple’s fair notice defense and granting the SEC’s motion for summary judgment.

Ripple stated that the Commonwealth case lacked contemporaneous evidence to support its fair notice defense. Comparing it with the current case, the payments company said, there was substantial evidence, including records from the SEC and correspondence between the agency and outside parties.

Meanwhile, pro-Ripple lawyer John E Deaton, who is representing XRP token owners in the ongoing lawsuit, said in an interview, that if Judge Analisa Torres rules the verdict in SEC’s favor, it would result in a slew of enforcement in the years to come.

XRP’s Open Interest soars

With growing optimism, the demand for XRP on futures exchanges has increased. The dollar value locked in outstanding contracts was $620 million at press time, surging 40% over the past month.

The rise in prices followed by a hike in Open Interest (OI) indicated that money was coming into the market.

Source: Coinglass

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On the other hand, most investors positioned themselves for price gains as the number of long positions taken for XRP increased vis-à-vis the number of short positions.

Source: Coinglass