At the weekends, BTC failed to reach monthly highs and rapidly returned to the lower limit of the sideways channel, allowing traders to take advantage of fairly attractive prices. A number of altcoins, including XRP, also experienced significant drops. The situation with Ethereum is exactly the same, but we will discuss the technical picture below. For now, let's talk about a recent interview with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. He announced that his company would spend $200 million to defend against lawsuits filed by the SEC against XRP.

Ripple expects a final decision on the lawsuit in three to six months. The head of Ripple stated that if they won the lawsuit, it would become clear what XRP was. However, the rest of the industry would still remain problematic. He emphasized that the entire crypto industry needed regulatory clarity in the United States in order to thrive.

The company is expected to spend about $200 million to defend itself against the SEC's lawsuit. Notably, the process began three years ago. In December 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple and co-founder Chris Larsen, claiming that they raised more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered continuous offering of digital asset securities in the form of XRP. Ripple claims that XRP is not a security.

Commenting on US rules regarding cryptocurrency, Garlinghouse said that as a US citizen and CEO of a US-based company, he considered the situation to be very gloomy. The Ripple executive explained that other countries such as Dubai, Singapore, and Switzerland, were ahead of the US and will become global financial capitals thanks to clear regulation. The US is already being overtaken. The complexity is that the US is a country the government of which "puts politics ahead of policy". This is not very good for those who want to invest in the economy of that country.

"You have video footage of the chair of the SEC, as a professor at MIT, saying 75% of these digital assets are commodities," Garlinghouse said. "And now he says they're all securities because he's the head of the SEC and he's seeking power and he's putting power ahead of sound policy to grow an economy in the United States."

It is worth noting that lately, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has been facing accusations of using an enforcement approach to regulate the crypto industry. There have also been widespread complaints that the SEC does not provide clear regulatory guidance, making it difficult for companies in the crypto space to ensure compliance with requirements.

Regarding the Ripple lawsuit against the SEC, Garlinghouse said that one of the positive aspects for Ripple was that the company was approaching the end of the process. It has been involved in this legal process for two and a half years, and a final decision should be made quite soon.

Recently, XRP has strengthened its position significantly. However, restrained risk appetite did not allow it to develop an upward trend. Discussing the technical picture of this trading instrument is hardly interesting as the volatility is quite low and everyone is waiting for the SEC's decision.

As for today's technical picture of Bitcoin, it will be possible to expect growth only after maintaining control over the $27,200 level, the struggle for which has been very active lately. This will allow the asset to create a bullish trend with the target at $31,000. The final target will be $32,300, where traders may gain a considerable income. If pressure on the trading instrument returns, it will be better to protect $27,200. A breakout of this level may push the asset to $25,500. In case of a breakout of this level, the cryptocurrency will slide to around $23,900.

Now, buyers of Ethereum buyers are focused on keeping control over the nearest support of $1,800 and breaking the nearest resistance of $1,925, which they failed to protect earlier. After that, one can expect a rise to $2,028. In the event of this, the bullish trend will continue and Ethereum may surge to around $2,127. Going beyond that level will allow the asset to reach $2,250. When pressure on ETH returns, the $1,803 level will also be taken into account. If the price breaks $1,697, it may decline to a low of $1,640.