In a recent revelation on Twitter, Molly Elmore from Valhil Advisors highlighted the significant impact of legal challenges on the potential value of XRP, a major digital currency. The discussion, stemming from the comprehensive Fair Market Valuation Report, offers a deep dive into the ‘what could have been’ scenario for XRP without these legal hurdles.
The Ripple Effect of SEC Litigation
The root of the valuation discussion dates back to December 2020, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the company closely associated with XRP. This lawsuit, alleging that XRP was a security and not a currency, led to a drastic sell-off in the market. The immediate effect was a significant dip in XRP’s market value, raising questions about its fair market valuation.
Elmore’s tweets, based on the Valuation Report, shed light on the crucial difference between market value and fair market value. This distinction became particularly relevant in the context of the lawsuit. The market value reflected the immediate, reactionary price of XRP post-litigation, while the fair market value aimed to encapsulate its intrinsic worth based on its utility, adoption, and potential.
Also Read: Ripple’s CBDC Collaborations Address Financial Exclusion Challenges in Over 20 Central Banks Worldwide
The Global Perspective
Elmore’s tweets also reveal an astonishing global interest in XRP. Despite the report being primarily aimed at an American audience and written in English, more than half of its viewership comes from outside the U.S. This data, extracted from the electronic “flipbook” format of the report, indicates that XRP is not just a regional phenomenon but a global one, with readers from 180 out of 195 countries showing interest.
Valhil Capital’s response to the SEC lawsuit involved proposing a different valuation model for XRP and inviting a larger group of experts to form the Confidential Committee. This committee worked on developing six different valuation models for XRP. These models suggested that the value of XRP could have been substantially higher in the absence of the SEC lawsuit, pointing towards the significant impact of regulatory decisions on digital assets.
The Ripple of Lost Opportunities
One of the more poignant aspects of Elmore’s thread is the acknowledgement of the years of innovation lost on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) due to the lawsuit. This setback highlights not only the resilience needed in the digital asset space but also the necessity for a clearer regulatory framework to prevent such losses in the future.
Source: https://coinpedia.org/news/xrps-potential-value-cut-down-by-legal-challenges-despite-the-global-interest/