Ripple (XRP), while awaiting the SEC’s lawsuit decision and committing to expand its services in Africa, is trading around $0.51, above the psychologically significant $0.50 level. Ripple and XRP are particularly known for payment and remittance services, and the firm has indicated its intention to expand into custody services like crypto-native services.
Ripple Plans to Expand Services to Africa
Ripple, known as a firm in the cross-border payment transfer field, has decided to expand its cryptocurrency services in the Middle East and Africa. Ripple’s General Manager for the Middle East and Africa, Reece Merrick, stated that the company is particularly strong in the payment area and will also focus on local services such as cryptocurrency custody.
As part of this expansion strategy, Ripple plans to support the XRP Ledger program in the Middle East and Africa. However, the company also faces legal challenges. The SEC lawsuit against Ripple involves allegations of unregistered securities sales. This legal battle has created significant pressure on XRP’s price, and token holders are awaiting the court’s decision.
The SEC claims that Ripple should pay a fine of approximately $2 billion for institutional XRP sales, while Ripple argues that this amount should be around $10 million. However, a definitive decision on this fine has not yet been made. A judge ruled in 2023 that other types of sales would not be considered securities sales. However, no specific date has been set regarding the fine. This situation stands as a significant factor in determining Ripple’s future steps and strategies.
XRP at $0.51 Level
Ripple reached a peak level of $0.6431 on April 9 and then dropped to a low of $0.4188 on April 13. Now, the target is the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of $0.53. The altcoin traded around $0.51 for almost the entire week.
As of now, the XRP price is trading at $0.5155 on Binance. In an upward scenario, the altcoin could move towards the psychological resistance of $0.60 and encounter intermediate resistance at the $0.53 level.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator supports the bullish thesis in Ripple as the MACD line has crossed above the signal line. This is considered a bullish signal, and the green histogram bars are rising above the neutral line.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is currently near the neutral zone at 47.33. From a downward perspective, a close below the mentioned 38.6% Fibonacci retracement level of $0.5045 could invalidate the bullish scenario. In this case, XRP could pull liquidity towards the May 13 low of $0.4866.
