XRP prices jumped 7.4% in the past 24 hours to buck nominal gains in the broader crypto market as traders likely bet on a favorable outcome for payments company Ripple Labs in its ongoing Ripple vs SEC lawsuit.

Latest Coverage: Why the XRP Army Keeps Fighting

These gains came as documents tied to William Hinman, the former director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Division of Corporation Finance from 2017 to 2020, were released to the public in connection with the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple Labs.

Hinman suggested in his 2018 speech that bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) were not securities, in his view. “We do not need to see a need to regulate Ether, as it is currently offered, as a security,” one of the Hinman emails read.

Latest Coverage: Hinman Emails Reveal 2018 Speech on Ether Drew Input From Multiple SEC Officials

Ripple Labs claims Hinman’s remarks at the time mean XRP should not be considered a security – which could result in a favorable outcome for the payments firm.

In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple on allegations that the firm sold unregistered securities. Ripple has historically maintained a distance from XRP, the token that powers some of its products and the XRP Ledger network. But any progress in the case has an impact on XRP prices.

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Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.