XRP targets new ATH; This is what kicked off the surge

Amid a widely positive sentiment in the cryptocurrency market, XRP is one of the digital assets that’s leading the trend in a surge kicked off by its issuer, Ripple, reaching a favorable settlement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As it happens, the SEC has granted Ripple Labs a waiver on August 8 from a Regulation D disqualification provision tied to a prior injunction, as both sides informed the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that they were voluntarily dismissing their respective appeals of a 2023 ruling.

Meanwhile, popular crypto exchange Coinbase has announced the launch of XRP futures approved under the oversight of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which means the regulator has officially classed the crypto token as a commodity under its Event Contracts.

In reaction, XRP started a strong move upwards that has recently peaked at $3.33, just 6.5% short of its all-time high (ATH) of $3.65 it reached on July 18. Currently, XRP is changing hands at the price of $3.26, recording an increase of over 2% on the day and nearly 9% across the week, per data on August 11.

Earlier in August, XRP surpassed $3 for the first time since July thanks to the positive momentum created by the rumor that Japan’s largest banking group, SBI Holdings, was planning to launch the country’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to both Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP.

At the same time, XRP has witnessed major adoption in South Korea as crypto custodian BDACS launched institutional custody support for XRP, adding to the wave of favorable developments for the third-largest crypto asset by market capitalization, which it holds at over $191 billion.

Where is XRP moving next?

This has all given XRP a needed boost to continue further toward not just breaking its previous price, but also to surge towards a whopping $11 target this year, after its price broke out of a bullish flag on the weekly chart, according to the observations by crypto expert Ali Martinez on August 10.

As a reminder, XRP has hit a record price of $3.65 in July 2025 after seven long years, triggering a wave of optimism in the crypto market that has settled a bit in the weeks that followed but has recently reawakened to again try and reach (and overtake) that high.

Meanwhile, XRP breaking its seven-year record came as a shock to some naysayers like the crypto trader Xanrox, who just weeks before emphatically declared in his TradingView analysis that XRP would crash by 72% to a low $0.60 despite the hype around the token.