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Ripple`s Garlinghouse Touts ‘Trump Effect’ Amid Bump in U.S. Deals

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump is widely expected to be a positive catalyst for the crypto market, but his promises are already bumping business for locally-based crypto firms. Financial firm Ripple Labs, which offers payment rails and the RLUSD stablecoin using the XRP Ledger, is reporting a bump in local deals and hiring efforts ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 — pinning growth on the upcoming administration’s campaign promises. “2025 is here and the Trump bull market is real,” CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in an X post late Sunday. “For Ripple, this is even more personal after Gensler`s SEC effectively froze our business opportunities here at home for years. The optimism is obvious and very deserved.” “We signed more US deals in the last six weeks of 2024 (since the election) than the previous six MONTHS. Say what you want, but the “Trump effect” is already making crypto great again – through his campaign, and in the Administration’s day 1 priorities,” he added. Garlinghouse added that the company is now almost exclusively hiring in the United States, which is a shift from the company`s expansion offshore during the previous Joe Biden administration. Ripple now has 75% of its open roles in the U.S., Garlinghouse said. As such, the firm is also donating to Trump`s upcoming inauguration and has pledged $5 million worth of XRP tokens to the effort. Since November, the speculative optimism among traders has been that a crypto-friendly Trump administration could benefit tokens linked to U.S.-based companies, such as Ripple Labs (related to XRP) and Uniswap (UNI), as the firms are more involved in boosting value for token holders. XRP prices have increased more than 300% since Trump’s win, outperforming growth in all other major cryptocurrencies, mainly on the U.S. narrative. Traders from other countries are piling in, too. Last week, XRP surged more than 11% even as majors remained rangebound, led by $1.3 billion worth of trading volumes on Korea-focused exchange Upbit. A CoinDesk analysis previously flagged unusually high trading volumes for XRP stemming from South Korean exchanges, which has historically acted as a harbinger for price volatility with a bias to the upside. XRP was trading just above $2.40 during the Asian afternoon hours Monday, little-changed in the past 24 hours alongside the broader market. CryptoIntelligence

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3 Things That Could Impact Crypto Markets This Week

Crypto markets held on to gains made late last week over the weekend, and momentum could continue into the following days. There has been a small ‘Santa rally’ for stocks and crypto markets over the first few days of the year, with around $280 billion entering digital asset markets. This week will see the release of key employment figures along with consumer sentiment reports . “Labor market data is in the spotlight ahead of the January 29th Fed meeting,” commented the Kobeissi Letter. Economic Events Jan. 6 to 10 Monday will see the release of the S&P Global Services PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index), while Tuesday has the ISM (Institute for Supply Management) Services PMI. These reports portray business conditions in the services sector and are leading economic indicators used by economists and analysts. The focus then switches to labor market data with the November JOLTS Job Openings report on Tuesday and December ADP Nonfarm Employment data on Wednesday. December’s Nonfarm Payrolls and Unemployment reports are due on Friday, and these present the number of new jobs created during the previous month, along with the percentage of people actively seeking employment. These two reports are important economic indicators as they track the shift in the number of positions that are strongly associated with the overall health of the economy. Key Events This Week: 1. S&P Global Services PMI data – Monday 2. November JOLTS Job Openings – Tuesday 3. December ADP Nonfarm Employment data – Wednesday 4. Fed Meeting Minutes – Wednesday 5. December Jobs Report – Friday 6. Total of 8 Fed Speaker Events Get ready for a… — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 5, 2025 Friday also sees January’s Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index and Consumer Inflation Expectations preliminary readings. This data reveals the results of a monthly survey of consumer confidence levels and views of long-term inflation in the US. Additionally, the Q4 2024 earnings season will begin in earnest in mid-January. The Kobeissi Letter also cautioned that the “implications of China’s real estate collapse will spread well beyond real estate in China ” before adding, “As we head into 2025, we are positioning ourselves for more volatility in the market.” Crypto Market Outlook Crypto market capitalization has remained flat over the past 24 hours and was at $3.68 trillion at the time of writing. Bitcoin momentum was building steadily, with the asset hitting a ten-day high, topping $99,000 during early trading in Asia on Monday morning. The asset has now gained around 7.5% over the past seven days and it is on track to reclaim the psychological $100,000 level soon. #BTC Post-breakout Quarterly Retest and Trend Continuation confirmed $BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin https://t.co/T5fYyyybjH pic.twitter.com/geXSv4SYue — Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) January 5, 2025 Ethereum has mirrored the action with a similar weekly gain as it tapped $3,670 on Jan. 6, its highest price since Dec. 19. Most of the altcoins were flat on the day, having held on to weekend gains, and momentum appears set to continue this week. The post 3 Things That Could Impact Crypto Markets This Week appeared first on CryptoPotato . CryptoIntelligence