Chris Helgren/Reuters
- XRP soared above $1 and hit a 3-year high on Tuesday amid a boom in cryptocurrencies.
- The surge in XRP comes even as Ripple faces a lawsuit from SEC alleging that it sold $1.3 billion worth of unregistered securities.
- Despite the recent surge, XRP is still 70% off its 2018 high of $3.31.
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XRP extended its 3-day gain to as much as 86% on Tuesday as it soared above the $1 price level for the first time since 2018.
The surge in XRP comes amid a cryptocurrency boom that saw the total market value of all crypto securities soar past $2 trillion. Bitcoin continues to hover around its all-time high near $60,000 as demand from institutional investors continues to move the price higher.
But a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against XRP creator Ripple still looms large for owners of the cryptocurrency. The SEC deemed that Ripple sold $1.3 billion worth of unregistered securities in late 2020, sending the price of XRP plummeting by more than 60%.
The SEC deemed that Ripple's XRP token is illegal, but Ripple is fighting back, alleging that the SEC is hiding internal records that would explain its views on crypto assets.
Because of the lawsuit, many western crypto exchanges have restricted trading in XRP, but that hasn't stopped investors from purchasing the cryptocurrency on less regulated exchanges, according to Coindesk.
XRP traded up as much as 26% on Tuesday, hitting a high of $1.10. But despite the recent surge, XRP is still 70% off its 2018 high of $3.31, which coincided with the multi-year top in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like ethereum and litecoin.
