Why did XRP price drop after Garlinghouse’s 60 Minutes interview?

XRP price suffered a harsh reversal on Dec. 9, mirroring the performance of Bitcoin and other altcoins.

Ripple (XRP) dropped to a low of $2.40, down by 16.2% from its highest level this year, bringing its market cap to $138 billion.

Its retreat followed Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple Labs’ CEO, appearing on 60 Minutes, the popular program on CBS. In an X post after the interview, he noted that it was edited to exclude some of the details.

Specifically, Garlinghouse highlighted that 60 Minutes did not mention XRP’s status as not being a security, a position confirmed by a federal judge in 2023.

He also criticized the program for implying that XRP had no utility, likening this perspective to early criticisms of the internet. Garlinghouse maintained that Ripple Labs handles billions of dollars in KYC-compliant transactions for institutional customers.

In its most recent results, Ripple said that the network handled over 172 million transactions in the third quarter, a 99% annualized increase. The network burned 598,477 XRP tokens generated from transaction fees, a 21% increase from the same period last year. 

XRP price has performed strongly over the past few months, becoming one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies. It surged 382% from its lowest level in November, positioning it as the third-biggest cryptocurrency in the market.

This rally was fueled by optimism that Donald Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission would adopt a more crypto-friendly stance compared to Gary Gensler’s tenure.

In line with this, investors anticipate that Paul Atkins may decide to do away with the pending appeal by the agency. Also, the agency may approve a spot XRP ETF as soon as in 2025.

Has the XRP price peaked?

The weekly chart shows XRP price surged to $2.90 last week but has since dropped to $2.40 following Garlinghouse’s 60 Minutes interview.

This decline has mirrored the broader market trend, as Bitcoin and other altcoins also began the week in the red. Despite the pullback, XRP remains above the key resistance level of $1.9700, its peak in April 2021.

Ripple is still significantly above the 50-week and 200-week Exponential Moving Averages.

The most likely scenario suggests XRP could drop to retest support at $1.9700 before resuming its uptrend. This break-and-retest pattern is a common continuation indicator.

Further XRP price gains are expected if the coin surpasses the year-to-date high of $2.90.