Ripple (XRP) is on somewhat of a downtrend into Tuesday, weighed down by former US President Trump’s expressing skepticism about Bitcoin, sending its prices tumbling lower since the previous session. At the time of writing, XRP/USD is trading just above $0.85, well below the key $1 level.

Beyond the downbeat mood in the overall crypto market, there seems to be no respite just yet for Ripple in the ongoing lawsuit with the SEC. Two months ago, the court ruled in the company’s favor, granting it access to SEC’s internal communications about BTC, ETH and XRP – specifically to understand why the SEC had a different outlook towards the first two than towards XRP. However, the Commission is yet to turn over even a single internal document in compliance with this ruling, dragging its feet and the case’s progress as well.

Meanwhile, legal troubles in the US could be one of the drivers for Ripple’s expansion into the Asian markets lately – from recent partnerships for remittances into India to its investment in Malaysian cross-border payments firm Tranglo. According to a recent article on The Ken, these moves could be part of the company’s strategy to build towards realizing its IPO dream, even as the lawsuit keeps delaying this happening within its home country.

On another positive note, Ripple may soon get in on the DeFi buzz, according to recent comments from the company’s CTO, David Schwartz. In a recent blog post by Schwartz, he proposes a strategy of Federated Sidechains for the XRP Ledger, which could empower it with smart contract capabilities. If this does happen, we could see it driving a significant rally in the value of XRP, sending it into direct competition with Ethereum and other new entrants as an attractive base for DeFi projects.

Key Levels to Watch

The 4-hour price chart of XRP/USD is offering mixed signs, with most of the moving averages supporting a bearish bias while leading technical indicators momentum and Stochastics RSI supporting a bullish bias. This is a very interesting moment for XRP as its price sits just above a key support level at $0.85.

If this support level breaks down, we could see Ripple’s XRP slide down to $0.75 where it could encounter some more support. On the other hand, a reversal in the price action could take the price back up to test $0.97 and try to break back above the $1 level.