TLDR 📃

• FedNow: US Federal Reserve's instant payment system for businesses announced, not affiliated with Ripple.
• SEC vs Ripple: SEC appeals to reject Ripple's defence of fair notice, possible tie outcome.
• Ripple partners with various central banks for CBDCs, including UK, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico.
• Ripple becomes the only platinum partner at global CBDC symposium in London.
• XRP price: $0.53, market cap: $27B, volumes: $1.34B, possible short-term climb to $0.60.
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Disclaimer: Not financial or investment advice. Any capital-related decisions you make are your responsibility and yours only.

“FedNow”? What is that?

So, the US Federal Reserve is creating an instant payment system called FedNow for businesses. Their goal is to make spending safer, faster, and more energy-efficient compared to current systems.

Even though FedNow uses the same ISO20022 standard as RippleNet, it's not affiliated with Ripple. Actually, it's quite different from decentralised cryptocurrencies since it's managed by a central authority. The Fed plans to launch FedNow in July 2023, and we think it might be followed by a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) soon after.

The SEC gets creative

After what felt like an age of silence, the SEC has responded to Ripple's defence of fair notice by citing the decision from a previous case, Upton vs SEC.

During the two-year legal wrangle, the SEC has used some absurd arguments in an attempt to label XRP as a security. Their initial argument was that the XRP token meets the Howey test criteria and therefore qualifies as a security.

The SEC's latest filing is an appeal to Judge Analisa, urging her to reject Ripple's fair notice defence, claiming they provided sufficient notice in the weeks leading up to the court case. This might seem like needless repetition by the SEC, possibly trying to waste more time, but as far as the summary decision goes, the judge should be beyond the point where the SEC's request is relevant.

However, this could lead to a potential new outcome. If Judge Analisa or her assistant possess a deeper understanding of cryptocurrencies, they might conclude that while XRP isn't a security now, it was back in 2018 when Ripple Labs held the majority of the supply. This contrast in facts could prompt the judge to call a draw between the two parties within the next few weeks, as suggested by crypto lawyer John Deaton.

Ripple heads the table at global CBDC symposium 🏦

While the US is exploring CBDCs without official blockchain partners and still battling Ripple Labs in court, many foreign nations appreciate XRP's efficiency and On Demand Liquidity. They want Ripple to help design their CBDC systems.

Currently, 114 CBDCs are being developed, with Ripple promoting the concept and partnering with central banks like the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico to aid in their development. The latest partnership is with Montenegro's central bank, aiming to revamp their financial systems.

Ripple's impressive track record led to its selection as the only platinum partner at the Global CBDC Symposium in London. Organised by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, the event brings together central banks, regulators, and experts to discuss cross-border finance, stablecoins, and blockchain solutions.

Price analysis: Bulls in the crypto shop 🦬

Recent market trends are hinting at some short-term gains for cryptocurrencies. This is thanks to a bunch of factors, like BRICS nations stepping away from the dollar, BTC breaking through that $30K barrier, all the buzz around Bitcoin halving, and Ethereum's exciting Shanghai upgrade. These factors pushed the total crypto market cap up by 2.4%, reaching a cool $1.3 trillion!

Now, XRP hasn't made any huge leaps, but it's still benefiting from the good vibes around BTC and ETH as traders grab those low prices. At the moment, XRP is sitting at $0.53, which is a 5.6% increase over the past week. Its market cap is $27 billion and its volume is $1.34 billion, which might just show some improvement on the horizon.

The thing is, the current sluggishness is mostly because large holders are selling off their XRP to jump on the gains from other big players in the crypto world (over $37M in XRP moved on CEXS). But as volumes keep growing, we might see some more green candles for XRP in the short term towards $0.60.

Cryptonary’s take 🎯

You know, XRP's had a pretty great year so far, proving itself to be quite resilient. Even after a bumpy end to Q1, it bounced back and kept on going despite the SEC court case.

In the last couple of weeks, though, things have been a bit mixed. Big investors have been selling, creating a bearish vibe, while smaller investors are feeling bullish and snapping up those low prices in anticipation of good news and maybe even a climb to $0.60.

Honestly, the current XRP mood is a bit like "hopium" - lots of hope, but not much solid info from the courts just yet. The summary judgement is a big deal, but with everything that's been going on, the outcome could be pretty different from what people expect. So, it's a good idea to stay alert and be cautious with risk while we wait for the final decision.

As always, thank you for reading 🙏🏼