XRP in Focus as Elon Musk’s DOGE Sets Eyes on SEC

Cult loyalists of XRP and other tokens are rejoicing as the Elon Musk-fronted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) apparently set eyes on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.

“DOGE is seeking help from the public,” a newly-created X account related to DOGE said late Monday. “Please DM this account with insights on finding and fixing waste, fraud and abuse relating to the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

The post has spurred speculation among XRP holders who believe public pressure or findings from the initiative could reveal conflicts of interest or misconduct within the SEC — weakening the SEC's position in their appeal against Ripple.

That could, in turn, bump up XRP prices on any developments deemed bullish for the token or how the SEC approaches crypto cases.

The SEC alleged Ripple Labs sold XRP in an unregistered securities offering in a widely-followed court case in 2020, which was resolved in Ripple’s favor in 2024. An appeal period, however, is ongoing and the case is not officially over yet, at least on paper.

DOGE is a temporary non-governmental agency headed by Musk to slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies. It is themed after dogecoin (DOGE), a memecoin project widely touted by Musk in the past few years.

The SEC is known in online crypto circles for its hard stance on local crypto companies and token issuers under the Biden administration, though this has started to shift as the crypto-friendly Donald Trump took office on Jan.20.

XRP prices are down 1.4% in the past 24 hours, beating a 2% slide in bitcoin (BTC) and a 2.5% drop in the broader market tracked by the CoinDesk 20 index.

UPDATE (Feb. 18, 15:41 UTC): Removes periods from DOGE acronym referring to the Department of Government Efficiency.