Optimism from traders pushed payments-focused XRP token to the front of the market, beating bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and the broad-based CoinDesk 20 index in Asian trading hours.

XRP has risen 7% in 24 hours to over 64 cents, the highest point since March 25, amid a large scheduled token unlock and increased hopes for settlement of the long-running SEC Ripple lawsuit.

A Tuesday filing showed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to amend its complaint against crypto exchange Binance, including with respect to "Third Party Crypto Asset Securities," which likely means that the Judge won't have to decide whether ten tokens such as Solana's SOL and Polygon's MATIC are unregistered securities just yet.

Although the filing did not name any token, traders are taking it to be a sign that the legal dispute between the SEC and Ripple Labs, which the regulator argues issued XRP, could be ending. Ripple and XRP aren't interchangeable. While Ripple is a fintech company focused on building a global payments network, XRP is an independent digital asset used for things like online payments and currency swaps.

Ripple is set to unlock 1 billion XRP, or $641 million worth at current prices, in August as part of a pre-determined unlock schedule.

While the concept of putting more token supply onto the market would logically drive down the price, a growing field of research suggests it might accelerate an existing bullish market trend because of increased liquidity.

Market data from CoinGecko shows that XRP's demand stems from South Korea. The XRP-Korean Won trading pair came in at $386.5 million versus Binance's XRP-USDT trading pair, which hit $352.5 million in volume.

In crypto circles, South Korean traders are known for pushing euphoric rallies on tokens, contributing to buying pressure and possibly influencing prices.

Earlier in July, XRP trading activity on local exchanges crossed those of usual leaders bitcoin and tether (USDT) stablecoins, contributing to a 20% rally in the tokens.

Trading Markets XRP

Sam Reynolds

Sam Reynolds is a senior reporter based in Taipei. Sam was part of the CoinDesk team that won the 2023 Gerald Loeb award in the breaking news category for coverage of FTX's collapse. Prior to CoinDesk, he was a reporter with Blockworks and a semiconductor analyst with IDC.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.