By David Wagner
Investing.com - Ripple's XRP is riding high, among the top 10 performing cryptocurrencies on Friday, with a 8% gain over 24 hours as of 8:25am ET, just shy of a key psychological threshold of $0.50.
XRP is benefiting from positive sentiment on cryptocurrencies and markets in general on Friday, but the rise has also been bolstered and helped by several recent good news stories specific to the cryptocurrency.
Most notably, popular Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Newton Crypto, which had removed XRP from its program in response to the SEC's complaint against Ripple, announced last night through its CEO and co-founder Dustin Walper that XRP is once again available on the platform.
Earlier this week, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) also joined the camp of those supporting Ripple against the SEC, which also increases the chances of XRP being available again on that platform soon.
It should be noted that Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse tweeted last night that no less than 12 companies had joined his fight against the SEC, via a special procedure that allows entities not directly involved in a lawsuit to testify and provide input.
"For those of you keeping count, 12 (!) amici briefs submitted. It’s unprecedented (I’m told) to have this happen at this stage. They each explain - in their own unique way - the irreparable harm the SEC will do to every facet of the US crypto economy if it gets its way." Garlinghouse wrote.
Recall that the SEC is accusing Ripple of illegally raising money through XRP as an unregistered security, while Ripple is challenging XRP's qualification as a security.
In the end, XRP's rise today as in recent weeks, is largely driven by the growing hope that Ripple will win its fight with the SEC. This would be very positive not only for Ripple, but for the crypto industry as a whole, as an SEC victory would set a precedent that would effectively subject most cryptos to the SEC's regulations.