- Ripple and the SEC have officially dropped their appeals, ending a years-long legal battle but leaving XRP’s price action largely unchanged.
- Analyst Jake Claver predicts XRP’s real breakout will come from a supply shock during a global liquidity crisis, not legal clarity.
- A tight supply paired with heightened demand could create rapid, outsized price moves, with market mechanics outweighing sentiment.
After years of courtroom back-and-forth, Ripple and the SEC have both dropped their appeals, officially putting an end to one of crypto’s most closely watched legal dramas. For traders, this removes a major cloud of regulatory uncertainty that’s been hanging over XRP for nearly five years. But here’s the twist — some market voices say this victory alone might not spark the big rally many have been waiting for.
Jake Claver, CEO of Digital Ascension Group, sees a different path for XRP’s next major move. According to him, the real trigger won’t come from legal clarity at all, but from a supply shock — and possibly during a global liquidity crunch. He points out that much of the current price activity feels more like positioning ahead of potential XRP spot ETFs than the start of a sustained breakout.
The Mechanics of a Supply Shock
A supply shock happens when the number of XRP tokens available for trading suddenly shrinks. This could occur if whales transfer large amounts into cold storage, institutions build long-term positions, or token distribution slows down. In this scenario, the market order books thin out, spreads widen, and even moderate buying pressure can push prices up faster than usual. Once liquidity is tight, large purchases become more expensive and harder to reverse without new supply entering the market.
Claver ties this idea to the potential of a global liquidity crisis — where available capital and credit across markets dry up. If that hits while XRP’s supply is already constrained, the combination could turbocharge price action. Demand spikes in a low-supply environment can push valuations to extremes, sometimes far quicker than sentiment-based rallies.
Why Headlines Might Not Move the Needle
Even with the lawsuit gone, XRP’s reaction so far has been muted. It climbed from about $3 to $3.38 after the news, but couldn’t push past its previous all-time high of $3.65. Claver sees this as proof that structural market forces, not just headline wins, will determine the size of the next move. Legal clarity may boost confidence, but without a significant supply squeeze, the rally could remain short-lived.
If his thesis plays out, the real fireworks for XRP could come not in a euphoric bull run, but in the more chaotic environment of a global liquidity crunch — where scarcity, not sentiment, calls the shots.