U.S. politician’s historic XRP bet pays off with 40% gain

Sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have an informational edge over the public. Worse still, they regulate the very industries they so often invest in — and they tend to secure impressive returns for themselves in the process. The cryptocurrency space, however, is much less regulated on the whole — and politicians on Capitol Hill have a much smaller advantage when it comes to this asset class. But, with the outsized returns that cryptocurrencies have provided, it was only a matter of time before lawmakers began to dip their toes in the water, so to speak. In many ways, 2024 was a year of firsts — we saw the first congressional meme coin purchase from Georgia representative Michael Collins, who purchased Ski Mask Dog (SKI) in early December , as well as the first congressional purchase of XRP — which was executed by Pennsylvanian representative Guy Reschenthaler on December 11 . Receive Signals on US Congress Members' Stock Trades Stocks Stay up-to-date on the trading activity of US Congress members. The signal triggers based on updates from the House disclosure reports, notifying you of their latest stock transactions. Enable signal The second purchase is much more significant, however — as interesting as Collins’ bet on SKI was, it appears to be a random stroke of luck. In contrast, Reschenthaler’s investment has seen a 40% return — and in a rare case when it comes to crypto, the congressman might have had an information advantage. Congressman’s XRP purchase nets a 40% gain in a little over a month Per a periodic transaction report made public on January 9, the Pennsylvania congressman invested between $1,001 and $15,000 in XRP on December 11, a time when the digital asset was trading at a price of $2.35. Periodic transaction report detailing Reschenthaler’s purchase of XRP. Source: Clerk of the House of Representatives Since then, the price of XRP has surged to $3.29 — by press time on January 16, the token had marked a 10.29% gain on the daily chart. The rally was driven primarily by better-than-expected inflation numbers — as well as a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appeal brief against Ripple Labs that was widely judged to be lackluster . XRP price 1-day chart. Source: Finbold All in all, XRP has seen prices increase by exactly 40% since Reschenthaler’s purchase. At present, his holdings could be worth anywhere from $1,401 to $21,000 — in other words, the representative earned between $400 and $6,000 on XRP alone. Reschenthaler isn’t your run-of-the-mill congressman — as the Republican party’s chief Deputy Whip in Congress, he is instrumental in maintaining party discipline. Being somewhat of an insider within the party, he is well-positioned to get wind of Trump’s intentions early — and currently, most analysts expect the President-elect’s SEC picks to dismiss the case against Ripple soon after the inauguration. Featured image via Shutterstock The post U.S. politician’s historic XRP bet pays off with 40% gain appeared first on Finbold .