Bitcoin saw a sharp decline in price during much of the past week. The cryptocurrency fell nearly 10% from Jan. 7 through Jan. 14. Bitcoin's slide was mirrored by altcoins across crypto with Ethereum, Solana, and Dogecoin all losing as much or more than the oldest, most valuable coin.

The decline was, in part, driven by a hotter-than-expected jobs report released Friday. This means the Federal Reserve could delay or reduce further interest rate cuts. Digital assets tend to be seen as "risk-on" by investors -- that is, investments that add risk to a portfolio. Generally, when rates are falling, investors are more willing to take on risk while the opposite is true when rates rise. Given that fewer cuts are now expected, risk-on investments like crypto were hit.

But despite the movement of the rest of the market, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) managed to gain 3.7% since Jan. 7. Let's take a look at why and then consider whether XRP could be a millionaire maker.

In 2020, XRP's parent company, Ripple, was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulator claimed that the company sold XRP as an unregistered security, a pretty big no-no. In August 2024, a court ruled mostly in Ripple's favor, approving a $125 million fine when the SEC was originally seeking $2 billion.

How is this relevant now, though? The SEC appealed the ruling in October but still must present its evidence if an appeal is to move forward. The deadline to do so is today. Under normal circumstances, there would be little reason to believe the SEC wouldn't meet this deadline. However, the regulator is undergoing a key change in leadership brought on by the election of Donald Trump.

The current chair, Gary Gensler, is stepping down. Gensler has not exactly been a friend to XRP and crypto at large, but Trump's pick for his replacement, Pail Atkins, will likely take a different tack. Investors appear to believe the SEC will not pursue its appeal further in anticipation of this change in leadership and broader philosophy.

Although the failure of the SEC to continue its appeal by the end of today certainly could lead to a short-term gain, I'm dubious of XRP's long-term value. That's because the value the market is currently assigning to the token seems out of sync with what it can realistically provide in the real world.

XRP is designed to transform banking by drastically reducing the cost and increasing the speed of transactions between financial institutions. In 2023, legacy systems cost the industry $193 billion in fees. This is the figure that proponents cite to illustrate just how large the opportunity is for XRP. And while the number is impressive, it's entirely misleading.