Investing.com-- Bitcoin price rose slightly on Thursday as broader market volatility kept traders largely averse towards cryptocurrencies, although XRP rose sharply after issues Ripple Labs was ordered to pay a fraction of penalties sought by the SEC.
Bitcoin climbed 1% to $57,969.0 by 09:03 ET (13:03 GMT). While the token did recover from lows of around $49,000 hit earlier this week, it still remained shy of levels seen before a crippling rout on Monday.
XRP surges as Ripple ordered to pay $125 mln fine to SEC
XRP rose over 18% to $0.61 after Ripple Labs, the issuer of the token, was ordered to pay $125 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
District Jude Analisa Torres, of the Southern District of New York, levied the fine on Ripple after finding that Ripple violated securities law in its institutional sales of XRP.
Ripple was also slapped with an injunction to register any further sales of securities.
The fine, however, was a fraction of the reported $2 billion penalty sought by the SEC, and was viewed as a “victory” by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
“We respect the Court’s decision and have clarity to continue growing our company. This is a victory for Ripple, the industry and the rule of law,” Garlinghouse said in a social media post.
It was not immediately clear whether the SEC will appeal the decision.
Despite Thursday’s gains, XRP still failed to fully recoup losses made over the past week.
Bitcoin, crypto prices flat as risk appetite remains frail
Bitcoin and broader cryptocurrency prices moved in a flat-to-low range, and were sitting on steep losses this week as concerns over slowing U.S. economic growth and rising Japanese interest rates battered risk-driven markets.
While the SEC-Ripple ruling did clear a major, long-running point of contention for crypto markets, it still did not provide clarity on just what U.S. regulations will entail for the industry.
Frail sentiment towards risk-driven assets also kept traders averse towards cryptocurrencies, given their highly speculative nature.
World no.2 token Ether added 0.8% to $2,482.09. Meanwhile, ADA/USD fell slightly while SOL/USD edged 1.5% higher.
Among meme tokens, DOGE rose 0.4%, while SHIB lost 2.7%.
U.S. consumers 'maxed out', could weigh on bullish crypto narrative: analysts
While the unwinding of the yen carry trade has likely paused since Monday, stabilizing risk assets including bitcoin, other risks remain, according to 10x Research's analysts.
Among the key concerns is the slowdown in U.S. consumer borrowing.
The Federal Reserve's data showed total credit outstanding increased by $8.9 billion in June, following an upwardly revised $13.9 billion in May, but fell short of the $10 billion consensus estimate. Revolving debt, primarily credit cards, fell by $1.7 billion, the largest drop since early 2021. Non-revolving debt, including student and auto loans, rose by $10.6 billion, the biggest increase in a year.
Delinquency rates are also rising, indicating deteriorating household balance sheets. In the June quarter, credit card delinquencies, defined as payments over 90 days late, reached 10.93%, the highest since early 2012. Auto loan delinquencies hit 4.43%, the highest since 2021. This suggests that U.S. consumers have maxed out their borrowing capacity, posing challenges to bullish crypto narratives.
"Weak U.S. consumer credit data, which dropped from $11.3 billion to $8.9 billion (below the expected $10 billion), mainly due to rare negative credit card debt and soaring delinquencies, signals a collapsing personal savings rate. This is significant for crypto as it suggests the fiat-to-crypto onramp will remain constrained due to maxed-out U.S. consumers," 10x Research said in a note to clients seen by CoinDesk.
It also highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. election, the slowing U.S. economy, and dwindling AI hype as additional risks to the crypto market.