XRP News Today: Will Ripple’s APAC Expansion Offset SEC Legal Hurdles?

The Monday Overview

On Monday (June 10), XRP declined by 0.20%. Partially reversing a 1.06% loss from Sunday (June 9), XRP ended the session at $0.4970.

Ripple Fosters Innovation in Japan and Korea

On Monday (June 10), Ripple announced the launch of a new fund to fuel XRPL innovation and adoption in the Asia Pacific region, stating,

“We’re proud to launch the XRPL Japan and Korea Fund to boost innovation & utility on the XRPL in APAC!”

According to the official announcement, the Fund targets several initiatives to drive innovation on the XRPL ledger in Japan and Korea. These include corporate partnerships, developer grants, startup investments, and community growth.

Significantly, the Fund forms part of a 1 billion XRP commitment to deliver financial, technical, and business support to developers working on the XRP Ledger.

Ripple has a longstanding relationship with Strategic Business Innovator Group (the “SBI”) in Japan. In 2023, the SBI announced plans to expand international remittance services using XRP and Ripple products to countries in the Asian region, including Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The latest announcement underscored Ripple’s position in the Global arena as a competitive remittance platform battling against platforms such as SWIFT. Last week, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse had this to say about SWIFT and Ripple’s product, stating,

“SWIFT has been around for 50, 60 years, and the frustrating part for all of us as users of SWIFT is that it really hasn’t changed in 50 to 60 years. The architecture of how it works, it means its slow, it’s expensive, and frankly, it’s quite error-prone. Some studies have shown that 6% of all attempts to wire a SWIFT transaction end up in errors that bounce back and then it takes days to get it back.“

Garlinghouse added,

“An XRP transaction and the payment flow for us is really real-time. It’s instant, it’s cross border, and the really powerful thing for a lot of our customers is they don’t have to pre-fund accounts. Our customers are financial institutions. The way SWIFT works, you’re pre-funding. You have dormant capital sitting in other banks around the world. Using XRP, using Ripplenet, our payments network, you don’t have to pre-fund.”

As Ripple continues to expand internationally, the SEC v Ripple case remains a critical issue.

SEC vs. Ripple and the Programmatic Sales of XRP Ruling

There were no SEC vs. Ripple case-related updates to influence buyer demand for XRP. Nevertheless, uncertainty about the final verdict in the Ripple case and SEC plans to appeal the Programmatic Sales of XRP ruling remained XRP headwinds.

In March, the SEC filed with the courts its remedies-related opening brief. The SEC offered the court arguments for a punitive penalty and an injunction prohibiting XRP sales to institutional investors. An injunction would impact plans to expand the US business after the Programmatic Sales of XRP ruling.

The verdict could hinge on whether the US courts consider post-complaint transactions breaches of US securities laws. Ripple filed its remedies-related opposition brief in April, stating that post-complaint XRP transactions were to accredited investors or through ODL agreements. According to the opposition brief, ODL agreements prevent profits or losses.

Based on post-complaint compliance, Ripple proposed a $10 million penalty for breaching US securities laws when considering there were no claims of fraud or recklessness.

After the verdict, investors expect the SEC to appeal the Programmatic Sales of XRP ruling. In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that programmatic sales of XRP do not satisfy the third prong of the Howey Test.

There is speculation that the SEC would disapprove XRP-spot ETFs until the end of the appeals process.

XRP Price Action

Daily Chart

XRP sat comfortably below the 50-day and 200-day EMAs, confirming the bearish price trends.

An XRP break above the trend lines would support a move to the 50-day EMA. A break above the 50-day EMA could give the bulls a run at the 200-day EMA.

SEC vs. crypto case-related news and SEC activity need consideration.

Conversely, an XRP drop below $0.48 could signal a fall toward the $0.45 handle.

The 14-day RSI reading, 38.47, suggests an XRP break below the $0.48 handle before entering oversold territory.