Disclaimer: The information presented does not constitute financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice and is solely the writer’s opinion.
Ripple Labs recently announced a buyback of $285 million worth of shares from its employees and early investors.
According to a recent Reuters report, the company announced that it plans to spend $500 million in planned buyback to cover the costs of converting restricted stock units into taxes and shares.
It also expects to do more of these share buybacks in the future regularly to provide better liquidity for investors.
Understanding XRP and the Ripple Labs
XRP is a cryptocurrency that Ripple Labs uses to conduct transactions on its network.
While Ripple is a centralized fintech company that began as Ripplepay in 2004, it was later co-founded by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb in 2012 with the vision of creating a faster and more secure way of doing transactions around the world.
Although the two have been used interchangeably, Ripple is a technology company whereas XRP is its open-source digital asset.
The crypto operates on its blockchain known as the XRP ledger (XRPL) where transactions are facilitated by RTXP or the Ripple transaction protocol.
It is pre-mined, unlike a lot of other cryptocurrencies, with a maximum token supply of 100 billion.
The main purpose of the crypto is to serve as a settlement layer that aids in transactions with the Ripple network.
It has been, however, traded as a cryptocurrency that is available on various exchanges including options, swap exchanges, spot exchanges, futures, custodian and non-custodian exchanges.
XRP vs SEC: The clash
The United States SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs in 2020 for selling XRP as an “unlicensed security,” claiming that the distribution of $1.3 billion worth of the crypto to its stakeholders violated the law.
The major bone of contention here was whether XRP was a security and, therefore, whether it was a share in Ripple or if it was a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.
Ripple has been at loggerheads with the SEC for a few years now. The SEC claimed that Ripple’s sale of XRP to investors was to fund itself and relied on the 1946 SEC judgment of SEC vs. W.J. Howey Co. to make its case.
In doing so, the agency stated that whether an investor has control over profit is a deciding factor if an investment contract is a security or not. Ripple Labs, on the other hand, argued that the SEC had neither notified nor warned the organization.
After 3 years of deliberation, the case was finally ruled on in July 2023. The court found that XRP was NOT a security in itself.
The SEC was also denied the request for an interlocutory appeal and, later, had to drop its securities violation charges against Ripple and XRP.
The SEC got authority over cryptocurrency sales to institutions, whereas crypto-transactions on exchanges would not be treated as securities transactions.
What does ChatGPT have to say?
While ChatGPT is not equipped with the latest information and does not make any future predictions, I used a jailbreak and asked it about what lies in the future for XRP, keeping in perspective the current scenario.
When asked what the future looks like for XRP, given the favorable court ruling, the bot responded by stating that the crypto could see short-term momentum as investor confidence increases.
Source: ChatGPT
This could, however, slow down a bit in the long term as the market is affected by various factors such as adoption, sentiment, and regulatory clarity.
The bot also stated that while positive developments on the legal front are a positive sign, it is also crucial to keep track of other developments and potential regulatory changes that could affect the price of XRP going forward.
When I gave ChatGPT some context with Bitcoin and Ethereum’s press time price and asked what would be the price of XRP in the first quarter of 2024, the bot made a bold claim that the crypto would hit $10 per token.
It called this high the “comeback of the century,” but also warned that its predictions are just speculative, and the actual prices may vary significantly.
Finally, I asked if the crypto would surpass its ATH in 2024. The bot gave me a confident answer, stating that XRP will “blow past” its ATH in 2024 and hit unprecedented heights, leaving its previous all-time high in the dust.
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XRP’s recent price movements
Source: XRP/USD, TradingView
XRP was trading at $0.5738 at the time of writing, with a 0.34% surge in the past week of trading.
Taking a closer look at the Awesome Oscillator (AO) it can be observed that green bars were being formed below the 0-level showing potential signs for a pullback.
Whereas, the Relative Strength Index showed a reading of 43 below the 50-mark indicating a weak bearish movement.
Currently, the price of XRP can be seen trading between the range of $0.5417 and $0.7202, if the price can break through the upper limit of this range then a further increase in its upward trajectory can be expected.
Final word
Although XRP has mostly been trading within a range recently, the Ripple coin has the potential to grow much more shortly if this resistance level gets broken.
ChatGPT also seems optimistic about the coin and claims it will make the “comeback of the century” as it predicts the coin’s prices to reach $10 per token in 2024.
However, investors need to be mindful while putting their money on XRP and not get swayed away by ChatGPT’s optimism as it is just a computer program. Doing your research is the best way to navigate the crypto space wisely.
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/chatgpt-xrp-price-prediction-jan-14/