Coinbase has stealthily changed its risk warning, once again fueling rumors that XRP will soon be back to trading on the largest U.S. crypto exchange. The modification comes amid the release of its earnings report on Tuesday and at a time when the crypto industry is dealing with harsh regulatory pressure.
Axios first reported on the change in Coinbase’s risk disclosures. The news outlet found the surprise buried in the crypto exchange’s annual filing, and it signals that Coinbase is ready for a fight against the overreaching U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A newly added line in the risk warnings states that the exchange will only delist cryptocurrencies deemed securities by the SEC if a court ruling supports the regulator’s request:
We may determine not to remove a particular crypto asset from Coinbase Spot Market even if the SEC or another regulator alleges that the crypto asset is a security.
In addition, Coinbase said Tuesday that it won’t delist anything “pending a final judicial determination as to that crypto asset’s proper characterization.”
Just recently, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on Twitter that the exchanges’ “staking services are not securities. We will happily defend this in court if needed,” showing the exchanges new willingness to fight the US regulator.
Will Coinbase Skyrocket XRP Price With A Re-Listing?
The change in the risk warning theoretically opens the door very wide to the decision to relist XRP on Coinbase. After all, Coinbase suspended XRP in January 2021 in light of the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs – without a court decision.
The move sparked a great deal of disappointment within the XRP community, as the exchange already conducted extensive analysis and consulted with the SEC before listing any asset at that time.
Although XRP had already dropped 60% after the SEC complaint on December 22, 2020, the price dropped another 30% the following week after Coinbase’s delisting. This shows the massive impact of Coinbase on the price of a crypto asset.
In the case of a listing, the price jump is also called the “Coinbase effect”, and this is exactly what the XRP community is hoping for now.
Taking a look at the chart of XRP, the price has yet to show any significant reaction to the news from Coinbase and the reignited rumors of a re-listing. At press time, XRP was trading at $0.3970.
With this, the price is still in its range between $0.32 and $0.42 in the 1-day chart, which the price fell into in early November. Since then, the price has been trapped in this range.
In the 1-hour chart, XRP must first break through resistance at $0.4016 to attempt a new run for a breakout out of the range. The 200-day EMA is currently at $0.4125 and should also act as resistance in the process.
