Sophia’s Thoughts On Ripple & The Election
Ripple has found itself in the middle of the heated 2024 U.S. presidential election race. Who is behind this?
These are Sophia's Thoughts:
Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen has backed Kamala Harris, contributing over USD 11 million to her campaign.
Elon Musk recently discussed XRP at a Town Hall, acknowledging its potential to resist centralization. Contrasting Larsen, Musk has financially backed Donald Trump’s campaign.
Ripple had a massive surge last year after a key legal victory against the SEC. However, its momentum has slowed in 2024 as XRP's price has plateaued amid ongoing legal appeals.
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🚀 Last week’s market performance
The market gained slightly this week, closing up 1.8%. Bitcoin (BTC) mirrored the market, gaining 1.9%. The best performing coin this week was ApeCoin (APE) which rocketed up 102.9% after announcing ApeChain and a new staking program. The worst performing coin this week was Maker (MKR) which lost 15%.
🧐 What is your crypto mood today?
In each Sophia's Thoughts newsletter, we ask about your crypto mood. Your response to this question helps Sophia get a better sense of the pulse of crypto markets. And this ultimately translates into better insights for you when combined with Sophia's AI models. Your data empowers Sophia to provide you with even better intelligence going forward!
✖ What happened with Chris Larsen?
The Ripple (XRP) community finds itself at an unusual crossroads in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election. Elon Musk and Chris Larsen are two prominent figures supporting Ripple. However, they support opposing presidential candidates.
Ripple’s co-founder and chairman, Chris Larsen, has emerged as one of the largest individual donors from the crypto world this election cycle. Larsen, who co-founded Ripple in 2012 to leverage blockchain technology for cross-border payments, has contributed over USD 11 million to political action committees (PACs) supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign. Before Ripple, Larsen was also the co-founder of Prosper and E-Loan where he pioneered open access to credit scores for consumers.
In September alone, Larsen donated nearly USD 10 million to Future Forward pro-Harris super PAC, in addition to contributing USD 1 million in August. He has expressed confidence that Harris understands the "innovation economy" in a way previous administrations did not. Larsen has stated that Harris will "ensure that American technology dominates the world," emphasizing that her experience sets her apart from other political figures.
Larsen isn’t the only one in the crypto space engaging with the election. The industry has contributed approximately USD 190 million to political campaigns this cycle, with PACs like Fairshake distributing nearly USD 169 million in congressional races. While Larsen focuses his donations on Harris, the broader crypto industry has spread its contributions across both parties, targeting key swing states and close House races.
🔊What did Elon Musk say?
During a recent Town Hall in Pittsburgh, Elon Musk made his first public remarks about XRP, acknowledging cryptocurrency as a tool to counter centralized control. He stopped short of endorsing XRP, stating, “this is definitely not an endorsement or lack of endorsement for XRP,” but his comments reflect a broader curiosity about Ripple’s potential. Despite his careful wording, Musk’s mention of Ripple brings the cryptocurrency into the political discourse. Musk and Larsen both agree on the importance of decentralization, which is Ripple’s mission. However, the two contrast sharply in politics, with Chris Larsen’s backing of Kamala Harris while Musk has become one of the biggest financial supporters of Donald Trump's campaign.
Musk’s involvement in the political landscape has been increasingly significant throughout 2024. He has donated close to USD 75 million to America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC that has been aggressively campaigning in swing states. His financial backing positions him among the largest individual donors to Trump. In contrast to Larsen’s tech-forward vision through Harris, Musk’s financial and vocal support for Trump highlights a division in how key figures within the tech and crypto spaces envision the future of regulation and government involvement in the sector.
🤔Sophia's insights on Ripple
Ripple's legal battle with the SEC saw a pivotal moment in mid-July last year when a judge ruled that XRP sales to retail investors were not classified as securities, sparking an 80% surge in its price and marking a major victory for the broader crypto industry. However, enthusiasm for Ripple has faded in 2024, with ongoing appeals from the SEC contributing to uncertainty. Despite a further win in August against the SEC, XRP’s price has plateaued and its momentum has slowed.
Sophia's mood for Ripple has also been muted recently. It now treads in the neutral to bearish range, when it frequently was bullish or higher back in 2023. One of the issues Sophia has noticed about Ripple is that its fundamentals currently are not as convincing. Sophia's intelligence indicates that weak fundamentals have contributed to the underperformance of Ripple in 2024. In contrast, strong fundamentals gave Ripple a boost in 2023. Still, sentiment for Ripple continues to be strong. Sophia's intelligence suggests that the strong sentiment for Ripple provides a backstop for the token price.
XRP Price Prediction: Will Ripple Make Waves In 2024? (Forbes Advisor)
SEC Appeals $125 Million Judgment in Ripple Labs XRP Lawsuit (Yahoo Finance)
SEC Challenges Court's XRP Ruling in Formal Appeal (Coin Market Cap)
Ripple's future remains uncertain as legal challenges and market shifts continue. Ripple has shown resilience before and could do it again. So, let's see what the rest of the year holds.
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