XRP Price Jumps. What Trump Means for the Crypto. — Barrons.com

By Elsa OhlenXRP price rose early Monday amid crypto optimism around Donald Trump's return to the White House.The price of the popular altcoin is up 8% over the last 24 hours to last trade at $3.31, according to CoinDesk data. Other cryptos including Bitcoin and Ether were rising too.XRP has been one of the biggest crypto gainers since Trump won the election, hitting a record $3.40 last week. It's up over 500% since Nov. 5, and has become the third largest crypto based on market value, behind only Bitcoin and Ether.XRP backers are hoping that the Securities and Exchange Commission will cease its crackdown on the crypto industry under chair Gary Gensler. In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple, the payment platform on which XRP is used to facilitate transactions, for selling an unregistered security.Trump has nominated crypto-friendly Paul Atkins to head the SEC and replace Gensler, and many hope he will drop the regulator's legal battle against Ripple. Atkins will need Senate approval before taking up the position.Trump's launch of his own meme coin over the weekend could signal his commitment to the crypto industry, although it isn't clear what the emergence of new coins will mean for existing ones. Some from within the crypto community have criticized the move. The memecoins "cost the U.S., the presidency and his family a lot of credibility," Gabor Gurbacs, crypto veteran and founder of PointsVille, a rewards-management app, said in a post on X Monday.Among other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin nears another record high and currently trades at $108,201, according to CoinDesk data. Ether is up 6.2% over the last 24 hours while Solana dropped 9.8%.Write to Elsa Ohlen at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.