In May 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk welcomed Saturday evening live. While many tuned in like they do every Saturday night, the crypto community watched with great interest, especially the owners of the meme token Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE). Musk first tweeted about Dogecoin in 2019 and later revealed that it was one of three cryptocurrencies he owned.
These events culminated in a stunning rally for Dogecoin that sent the token up 5,890% in the first four to five months of 2021. Now, with the price of XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) Up over 400% since Election Day, is the token poised for a Dogecoin-like moment with the CEO of Ripple Labs, the company behind XRP, set to make a major appearance on television? Let’s take a look.
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Few cryptocurrencies have benefited as much from Donald Trump’s victory as XRP. In 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple Labs, the company behind XRPand its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder Christian Larsen for allegedly selling XRP as an unregistered security in 2013. Many stakeholders have been following the case closely as it could set a precedent as the SEC is fighting for greater regulatory jurisdiction over many cryptocurrencies.
A judge ruled in favor of Ripple, but the SEC later appealed parts of the decision. However, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has led many of the SEC’s crypto initiatives and prosecutions, has announced that he will resign once Trump takes office, which could lead to a quicker conclusion of this long-standing legal matter.
After Trump’s victory, media reported that Trump, who was pro-crypto, held a meeting with Garlinghouse, driving up the price of XRP. Most recently, on November 25, Garlinghouse on X said he was interviewed by CBS. 60 minutes on a range of crypto topics for a soon-to-be-aired episode. Many thought the interview would air on December 1, but that never happened. Between November 27 and December 1, the price of XRP still increased by almost 39%.
By December 2, XRP was up over 63%, and by December 3, it was up over 93% since November 27. Part of this development appeared to be driven by the potential 60 minutes interview and could still draw on it as the interview is generally expected to take place at some point.
Meme tokens like Dogecoin seem to scale with great publicity which creates organic marketing. For example, Dogecoin typically rises when Musk tweets something about the token to his more than 206 million followers. 60 minutes is the highest-rated Sunday non-sports program on CBS and can attract more than 10 million viewers. It is believed that this type of exposure could attract new buyers who would increase the price of XRP to new highs.