Arguably, the biggest beneficiary of the Trump administration's pro-crypto policies has been the cryptocurrency XRP (CRYPTO: XRP). On Election Day, XRP was trading for just $0.50. Today, it trades for about $2.20, for an eye-popping 345% return on investment in just six months.
While much of the early pro-crypto euphoria surrounding the Trump administration has already been priced into XRP, new catalysts continue to emerge. In fact, there are three big ones with the potential to send XRP higher over the next 12 months.
Shakeup at the SEC
President Donald Trump campaigned on a pro-business, pro-crypto platform. And that's exactly what he has delivered. One of the first moves was the replacement of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head Gary Gensler, who was known for his heavy-handed approach to crypto regulation, with Paul Atkins, who is known for his support of the crypto industry.
This shakeup at the SEC is important for several reasons. For example, it led to the SEC dropping a long-running lawsuit against Ripple, the company behind the XRP crypto token. For more than four years, the SEC claimed that XRP was a security and not a commodity. That long, bruising legal battle now appears to be over.
That should free up Ripple (and XRP) to go back to expanding its business of facilitating financial transactions. Moreover, it should make it easier for Ripple to gain institutional adoption for its blockchain-based payment network, which is primarily used to send cross-border payments. As long as there was a dark legal cloud hovering over Ripple, financial institutions had to think twice about getting fully onboard with Ripple's payment technology.
U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile
In March, the White House announced the creation of both the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve only holds Bitcoin, so it doesn't affect XRP. But the Digital Asset Stockpile would to hold all the other cryptocurrencies.#DigitalCurrencyRevolution
