Crypto asset management firm Grayscale Investments announced the launch of the Grayscale XRP Trust, which contributed to a nearly 10% increase in the XRP price, the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Grayscale’s new trust offers investors, both individual and institutional, who meet accreditation criteria, the chance to invest in XRP.

This token powers the XRP Ledger, a decentralized network designed for international financial exchanges, according to Grayscale’s statement. Ripple has also recently unveiled significant advancements aimed at enhancing crypto infrastructure, driving greater institutional adoption of its blockchain technology.

Unlike exchange-traded funds, which can have a fluctuating number of shares, trusts like this are closed-end, limiting the number of shares to a fixed amount, making them less liquid. Following the announcement, XRP’s price surged by up to 9.8%, reaching approximately 59 cents, though it remains down about 8% for the year. Currently, XRP’s market valuation stands at about $32 billion and the time of writing XRP price was still rocketing by 6.34%.

Recently, the company’s investment vehicles focused on digital currencies, especially Grayscale’s Ethereum and Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), have experienced a significant decrease in assets. Recent figures indicate that Grayscale’s total holdings have dropped below $20 billion.

The recovery rally in XRP price has breathed hope for investors amid fears of recession and uncertain macroeconomic conditions. A general, outlook of the remittance token shows that it has struggled to perform despite Ripple’s developmental updates and a lawsuit victory against the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). But the question remains, will XRP price never have a sudden spike?

XRP Price Suppressed By Market Sentiment & Regulations

In the week that passed, the Ripple team attended the 2024 Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) and, while there, revealed some interesting information concerning Ripple’s future, including the introduction of programmability to the XRP Ledger. Additionally, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hinted that the much-awaited RLUSD launch may happen sooner than everyone thought. 

Nevertheless, the market sentiment around XRP has remained low, as signaled by the transaction count on the XRP network, which took a nose dive between September 8 and 9, according to data from XRP Scan.

Additionally, regulatory hurdles have kept the XRP price down for a long time, to the extent that hype around the coin may have completely dissipated. The asset’s price performance clearly showed this when Ripple and the SEC reached a potential settlement. The court ordered Ripple to pay $125 million after negotiating down from $2 billion. This settlement effectively ended the legal battle, with Judge Analisa Torres ruling in July 2023 that XRP was “not a security.”

Despite this, XRP surged only 70% before wiping out all the gains over the following two months. The dismal performance of the XRP price on such critical development reveals a high level of uncertainty among investors, a factor that may hold the price down, even in the bull run.

Ripple Supply & Market Manipulation

Many want to believe that the upcoming Ripple’s stablecoin will provide the necessary liquidity to establish XRP as a cornerstone of the future digital economy. However, the price of XRP has oscillated between $0.25 and $0.70 for a long time and is unlikely to spike suddenly.

It has been posited that Ripple could be behind the price manipulation because of how XRP tokenomics are fashioned. However, these allegations remain unbased.

XRP is not like the conventional blockchain. Ripple pre-mined the total supply of 100 billion coins from the start and locked them in escrow, excluding the ones in circulation.

Every month, Ripple releases 1 billion XRP into the market, but any unused coins are returned to escrow and placed at the end of the queue. This method has led to suggestions that Ripple controls the price of XRP.

XRP Price Eyes A 19% Short-Term Fall

XRP broke downward from a symmetrical triangle and might be lower. There could be a slight relief increase of 7% to retest the lower trendline of the triangle before a more significant move downward to $0.42

Volume is relatively flat while the price is falling, showing a lack of interest from new investors while present investors could be selling.

If the price of XRP slides back into the triangle during the restest, it could invalidate the bearish forecast, and the Ripple price could surge to $0.6 and eventually $0.65.

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Evans Karanja

Evans Karanja is a content writer and scriptwriter with a focus on crypto, blockchain, and video gaming. He has worked with various startups in the past, helping them create engaging and high-quality content that captures the essence of their brand. Evans is also an avid crypto trader and investor, and he believes that blockchain will revolutionize many industries in the years to come. When he is not writing, you can find him playing video games or chasing waterfalls.

Disclaimer: The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.