What is happening

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, the S&P 500 had its third worst day of 2024 as stocks fluctuated ahead of crucial U.S. jobs data that could influence the size of the Fed's September rate cut.

Bitcoin, seen as a risk asset by Wall Street, mirrored market sentiment, dipping shortly after a brief rebound.

The employment that came on Friday gave mixed signals, as S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow futures all slipped, with the Nasdaq-100 dropping over 1%.

XRP, one of August’s top-performing altcoins, has been steadily declining since Wednesday, losing over 4%. On Friday, it was traded within a $0.53-$0.54 price range.

Ripple v. SEC

Ripple Labs' legal team has requested a stay on the monetary portion of the Aug. 7 judgment that requires the company to pay $125 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a Sept. 4 filing, Ripple proposed to hold 111% of the judgment amount, or $139 million, in a bank account until 30 days after the appeal period expires or the resolution of any appeal. The SEC has agreed to this delay.

This request comes as the SEC considers a possible appeal, despite Ripple executives previously celebrating the judgment as a victory.

Attorney Fred Rispoli has reassured the community, stating that if the SEC does appeal, a ruling likely will not come until 2026, and recent SEC lawsuits against exchanges have reduced the impact of this case.

Introduction of smart contracts

Ripple has recently announced that it will add smart contracts to the XRP Ledger (XRPL) developer ecosystem.

Smart contracts are self-executing contracts stored on the blockchain. They automatically progress when specific conditions are met. Smart contracts are programs that handle transactions and agreements without the need for intermediaries.

Ripple announced that the move would open various use cases for users, builders and entrepreneurs. It aims to attract developers to use XRPL’s expanded capabilities.

According to Ripple, the smart contracts feature is set to go live “in the coming months” in the XRPL Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain.

Price prediction

Negative sentiment dominates the market as the broader crypto landscape undergoes an extended correction phase. Some crypto analysts, including Ali Martinez and Arthur Hayes, are predicting BTC could dip below $50,000.

Even whales, typically patient during market downturns, appear to be losing confidence. Whale Alert recently detected a large transfer of 100 million XRP tokens, valued at around $54.5 million, to an unknown wallet, suggesting some are unloading their holdings amid sideways price movement.

To be more specific, crypto tracking service Whale Alert detected the transfer and revealed that the company moved a whopping 100 million XRP tokens to an unknown wallet.

From a technical analysis standpoint, XRP fell from its 20-day EMA of $0.57 on Aug. 31, reaching a support level at $0.54 on Sept. 1.