Why XRP (Ripple) Is Surging Today

Key Points

• The House of Representatives voted to reconsider a package of crypto bills that hit a procedural roadblock Tuesday.

• Media outlets reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but Trump eventually denied the report.

• The executive chairman of Ripple, the company behind XRP, is part of a group of tech leaders who will work with California Gov. Gavin Newsom to make that state's government more efficient.

• 10 stocks we like better than XRP ›

As of 3:48 p.m. ET Wednesday, the price of XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) was up by 6.3% over the prior 24 hours. While there was no obvious reason for that rise that could be directly connected to the crypto, several events likely helped drive it.

A crypto-packed day

Wednesday started off with a bang when media outlets, citing an anonymous White House official, reported that President Donald Trump was planning to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom he has criticized for months. The stock market started to fall until Trump eventually denied the report.

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The threat of Trump potentially firing Powell could impact crypto prices. If Trump were to do that -- an action that Powell has noted is "not permitted under the law" -- some investors could lose faith in the free-market principles of the U.S., as well as the integrity of the Fed. That could push more of them into the alternative, largely decentralized crypto system.

In other news, the House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon voted to reconsider several crypto bills that had failed to advance procedurally on Tuesday. If passed, the various bills would create regulatory frameworks for stablecoins and digital assets, and also prevent the Fed from creating its own central bank digital currency. Crypto advocates view these bills as key pieces of legislation needed to remove regulatory uncertainty.

Also, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new initiative called the California Breakthrough Project that will work with some of the top tech leaders across the state to help make its government more efficient. That group includes Chris Larsen, the executive chairman of Ripple, the company behind XRP.

Is XRP a buy?

The entire crypto sector stands to benefit if these three crypto bills are passed in Congress. Ripple has its own stablecoin that XRP interacts with and serves as a bridge currency for.

XRP is intriguing because of its strong technical network, which can process many transactions per second. It also stands to benefit from the work Ripple is doing on cross-border payments with mainstream financial institutions and institutional investors. Still, the token remains volatile and speculative, so I would keep any position in it small for now.

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Bram Berkowitz has positions in XRP. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.