An XRP community member known as Sherrie addressed recent accusations against cryptocurrency company Ripple for allegedly manipulating the price of the XRP token.
This development comes after documents emerged indicating that Ripple is working with global cryptocurrency market maker GSR to use trading bots for institutional sales of XRP. Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer refuted these claims, making it clear that the company has stopped such practices.
Sherrie provided perspective on the matter, likening Ripple’s actions to those of other companies seeking to raise funds through market activity. She drew parallels between Ripple’s market activity and the activities of traditional financial operations, such as the company selling shares and later repurchasing them. She argued that this does not constitute manipulation, but rather reflects the basic economic principles of supply and demand.
Sherrie further elaborated her argument by distinguishing between manipulation and causation. She used the analogy of gravity to explain that market dynamics naturally lead to price changes. According to Sherrie, Ripple’s XRP sale was aimed at raising funds rather than influencing the market price of the token.
Sherrie also highlighted Ripple’s legal victory against the SEC’s charges of selling unregistered securities, suggesting that these results support Ripple’s claims of transparency in its business practices. This position provides a rebuttal to the ongoing debate within the XRP community and regarding Ripple’s potential impact on XRP’s market performance.
Controversy has ignited around Ripple, the largest holder of XRP, following revelations by a cryptocurrency researcher known as Darkhorse. Darkhorse’s analysis of court documents from the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit shows that between 2015 and 2016, Ripple may have instructed GSR Markets to use bots in trading strategies that could potentially impact the price of XRP. Sell XRP to have a favorable impact on the price.
A graph in court documents showing the correlation between GSR’s net XRP sales and XRP/USD price movements was central to these discussions. Darkhorse described a pattern in which Ripple announces upcoming news to GSR, triggering preemptive purchases of XRP, starting the price rise, and then selling with momentum.
The XRP community has followed these developments closely with input from respected members such as Wrathof Kahneman. Wrathof Kahneman noted that the document suggests efforts to stabilize and increase the price of XRP. Addressing these claims, Ripple executives, including CTO Schwartz, highlighted the cessation of programmatic selling of XRP starting in 2019, which is detailed in Ripple’s quarterly reports.