He bitcoins It is hovering around its highest level so far this year on Friday after crypto investors were buoyed by a legal victory ruling that the cryptocurrency XRP is not a security.
A US judge said Thursday that Ripple Labs Inc did not violate securities law by selling its XRP token on public exchanges.
The case marks the first victory for a crypto company in a lawsuit brought by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the decision was case-specific, it sparked a wave of optimism among investors that more cryptocurrencies may not be considered securities as well.
The price of bitcoins it reached its highest level since June 2022, hitting $31,818, before dipping to around $31,235 at 1349 GMT.
The second largest token, ether, had its best session since March on Thursday and XRP soared 73% on Thursday and held most of these gains on Friday.
As bitcoin pulled back from its highs, shares of cryptocurrency-related firms rose in regular trading, having pulled back in pre-market trading.
“The regulatory environment is changing,” said Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at crypto asset manager Astronaut Capital. “And from what we’ve seen in the last 24 hours, it could be for the better.”
Cryptocurrencies have staged a gradual recovery so far this year, after prices fell sharply last year and a series of bankruptcies of major crypto firms, including US stock exchange FTX, left investors with heavy losses.
