XRP Army Eyes $1.375 Price Amid Speculation of $100M Ripple Settlement

XRP community members eye a $1.375 price point amid growing speculation surrounding a purported $100 million settlement amount between Ripple and the U.S. SEC.

This speculation picked up momentum following the SEC’s latest filing, which countered Ripple’s insistence on a $10 million remedies amount for securities law violations. 

Origin of $100M Settlement Speculation 

In a previous filing, Ripple drew inspiration from the $420 million penalty levied against Terraform Labs (TFL) to strengthen its stance on a reduced levy instead of the SEC’s $2 billion penalty demand.

However, in a Friday letter to District Judge Analisa Torres, the SEC emphasized that Ripple’s situation is dissimilar to Terraform Labs’. The regulator pointed out that TFL is bankrupt and discontinuing operations and has agreed to substantial reimbursement to investors, among other settlement terms.

However, the SEC stressed that Ripple agreed to no such settlement terms in its legal case, further invalidating the comparison. Moreover, the regulator corrected Ripple’s assessment of Terraform’s $420 million civil penalty.

According to the SEC, the actual ratio was 11.7% of Terraform’s $3.5 billion gross profit from violative conduct, not 1.27%, as Ripple suggested.

Notably, the SEC is seeking disgorgement of $876.3 million in gross profits from Ripple. The regulator argued that if the same 11.7% ratio is applied, the resulting civil penalty would be approximately $102.6 million. 

This calculation from the SEC led some members of the XRP community to believe that the SEC might be looking to drop its initial request for a $2 billion penalty from Ripple, unlikely the case.

XRP Army Targeting $1.375 XRP

Banking on the view that the SEC now requests $100 million from Ripple, the XRP Army believes a settlement is imminent. Interestingly, the founder of Humanitarian Trust Compliance Services even speculated that the final settlement would range between $50 million and $62.5 million. 

In parallel, he predicts that XRP will trade up to $1.375 due to the hypothetical settlement. At press time, XRP currently changes hands at $0.492.

It will get settled at $50M-$62.5 Million. Near the cost of a transaction on the XRPL.

They will take the cap off and XRP will trade up to $1.375, allowing 80% of its outstanding volume to flush out the traders. These tokens will not be put back onto the secondary market ever…

— XRPLion1 -ΑΩ- "Messenger of GOD'S REVELATION" (@XRPLion1) June 16, 2024

Clarification on $100M Settlement View 

While Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, previously suggested that the SEC had dropped its $2 billion request based on their recent filing, reputable community members like Moon Lambo have argued otherwise. 

They assert that a careful reading of the SEC’s wording does not support this view. SEC lawyer Marc Fagel has concurred with Moon Lambo, emphasizing that the interpretation of a reduced settlement figure is incorrect.

Yes, if you delete half the paragraph, you can construct this language. But that's a categorically false interpretation of what's going on here. It's a very Crypto Twitter thing to just make things up… but we actual SEC lawyers are happy to correct you.

— Marc Fagel (@Marc_Fagel) June 16, 2024