Digital Assets Surge After Trump’s Election
Two of the digital assets in U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed crypto reserve, XRP and Cardano (ADA), have thrived since his Nov. 5 election, even as others have struggled.
XRP and Cardano were recently up 375% and 163% over this period, while Bitcoin has given up a good portion of its post-election gains, and Ethereum and Solana have fallen sharply.
The rise of XRP and ADA coincides with a shift in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), creating a friendlier regulatory environment for these assets, which are the third and sixth largest by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins.
In the past two weeks, the SEC—under the direction of Acting Chair Mark T. Uyeda—has dropped several enforcement actions against leading crypto firms, including exchanges Coinbase and Kraken.
According to Matt Hougan, CIO of crypto index fund manager Bitwise Asset Management, “Both (assets) faced existential-level regulatory threats under the Gensler-led SEC, and those have been removed. XRP and ADA had no shot at succeeding under the prior Commission.”
The former Chair Gary Gensler’s SEC scrutinized the regulatory status of every digital asset in Trump’s proposed reserve, except Bitcoin. The agency sued Ripple Labs, alleging that its XRP sales violated U.S. securities law, and labeled Cardano and Solana as unregistered securities in lawsuits against exchanges.
While the SEC has not yet dropped its ongoing lawsuit against Ripple, changes in enforcement actions signal that an outcome might be forthcoming, especially after the regulator abandoned several high-profile crypto cases. Additionally, it has withdrawn an investigation into Robinhood’s crypto operations.
Currently, Bitcoin trades at about $86,700, up 29% from November levels but significantly down from its all-time high above $108,000 in January, according to crypto markets data from CoinGecko. Solana is trading around $145, down 9.3% since Nov. 5, and well below its all-time high of $293 set after Trump launched his meme coin in January. Ethereum has decreased by 9.5% since Election Day.
Interestingly, if Trump hadn’t included Cardano in his proposed crypto reserve, it might not have been such a clear winner, according to Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered. “ADA had started giving back its gains before the surprise inclusion by Trump on Sunday,” Kendrick noted.
For XRP, Trump’s victory indicated that Ripple’s prolonged legal battle with the SEC was nearing its end. Kendrick mentioned, “The jump in XRP was more catch-up related to that.”
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