Ripple (XRP) has hit a new major milestone, with the first-ever regulated XRP futures in the US going live this week. Bitnomial, a U.S.-based digital asset derivatives exchange, has launched the first-ever U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulated futures contract for XRP, the firm announced on Thursday. “This marks the first-ever CFTC-regulated XRP futures product in the United States, providing traders with a compliant, transparent, and capital-efficient way to gain exposure to XRP,” Bitnomial said in a statement this week.
The move is the latest in a string of huge milestones for Ripple Labs and their XRP cryptocurrency. This week the software company saw its lawsuit from the SEC finally come to a close. The lawsuit was originally filed four years ago, under the previous Gary Gensler-led SEC. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the lawsuit “doomed from the start” in a statement following the dropped appeal. Garlinghouse also called the move “a resounding victory for Ripple, for crypto, every way you look at it.”
The arrival of 2025 has come with a completely overhauled cryptocurrency policy embraced by the returning Trump administration. With that, cryptocurrencies have been thrown into the spotlight, but haven’t performed well to this point. February-early March saw most altcoins like XRP fall in value. However, after a month of decline from nearly $3, XRP price is beginning a slow climb back upwards. With the SEC’s evolving stance on crypto assets providing greater clarity for the industry, altcoins like XRP are set to begin a huge rebound, just as altcoin season is underway.
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It is worth noting that the asset encountered a much bigger rise earlier this year. XRP stunned the market as it broke its seven-year curse and hit a high of $3.39. This is significantly close to its all-time high of $3.84. Currently, the altcoin is 36% below this peak, but that gap may close in the coming week. Price predictions are already being revised, with experts suggesting that the race to $4 may be back on. But precisely how high could XRP now go in the next month after these updates?
Analysts at CoinCodex are back on the bullish wave for XRP after previously projecting the altcoin to stay below $3.50. With XRP’s recent climb, they now project XRP to hit as high as $4.20 by the end of March. April is also slated to be bullish for the altcoin as it will be priced at a high of $4.14.