Investing.com-- Bitcoin price moved little on Thursday as broader market volatility kept traders largely averse towards cryptocurrencies, although XRP rose sharply after issues Ripple Labs was ordered to pay a fraction of penalties sought by the SEC.
Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $56,934.9 by 01:48 ET (05:48 GMT). While the token did recover from lows of around $49,000 hit earlier this week, it still remained shy of levels seen before a crippling rout on Monday.
XRP surges as Ripple ordered to pay $125 mln fine to SEC
XRP rose 18.2% to $0.6047, having surged as much as 26% after Ripple Labs, the issuer of the token, was ordered to pay $125 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
District Jude Analisa Torres, of the Southern District of New York, levied the fine on Ripple after finding that Ripple violated securities law in its institutional sales of XRP.
Ripple was also slapped with an injunction to register any further sales of securities.
The fine, however, was a fraction of the reported $2 billion penalty sought by the SEC, and was viewed as a “victory” by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
“We respect the Court’s decision and have clarity to continue growing our company. This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law,” Garlinghouse said in a social media post.
It was not immediately clear whether the SEC will appeal the decision.
Despite Thursday’s gains, XRP still failed to fully recoup losses made over the past week.
Bitcoin, crypto prices nurse steep losses as risk appetite remains frail
Bitcoin and broader cryptocurrency prices moved in a flat-to-low range, and were sitting on steep losses this week as concerns over slowing U.S. economic growth and rising Japanese interest rates battered risk-driven markets.
While the SEC-Ripple ruling did clear a major, long-running point of contention for crypto markets, it still did not provide clarity on just what U.S. regulations will entail for the industry.
Frail sentiment towards risk-driven assets also kept traders averse towards cryptocurrencies, given their highly speculative nature.
World no.2 token Ether fell 2.9% to $2,430.80, while ADA and SOL rose slightly.