Preface

XRP, the digital currency inherent to the XRP Ledger associated with Ripple, reached a multi-year high this Wednesday. This surge coincides with bitcoin's milestone price of $100,000, and the U.S. CPI inflation report that traders followed closely. During the early trading hours in the U.S., XRP surpassed the $3 mark—levels unseen since January 2018—before slightly retreating. Currently trading at $2.95, XRP rose by 11% in the last 24 hours, overshadowing bitcoin's 3.6% increase and the broader CoinDesk 20 Index's 6.7% gain.

Lazy bag

XRP achieved an impressive 488% rise since Trump's election, climbing to third largest crypto by market cap. Fueled by policies anticipation, it's easily surpassing traditional finance titans.

Main Body

XRP has shown remarkable performance, witnessing a growth of 488% since the election of Donald Trump. It now stands as the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, just behind Bitcoin and Ethereum's Ether, reclaiming this position from Tether's stablecoin USDT. Currently valued at $170 billion, XRP's market cap surpasses that of BlackRock, a colossal asset management firm.

Several factors are motivating this uptick. The anticipation of favorable cryptocurrency regulatory changes in the U.S. has played a pivotal role. The longstanding legal confrontation between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple concerning XRP sales continues to influence market dynamics.

According to Diego Cardenas, an OTC trader at digital asset platform Abra, key drivers behind this rise include new strategic alliances, the introduction of Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD, and rumors regarding a potential spot XRP ETF approval. Ripple's President Monica Long recently expressed optimism that such approvals could be expedited with the new U.S. administration.

Last week, XRP broke through a stagnation phase identified by CoinDesk analyst Omkar Godbole, setting the stage for further price hikes. Achieving a 15% increase from current levels would carry XRP beyond its January 2018 peak of $3.4. Adjusting for inflation, however, XRP would need to exceed $4.24 to set a genuine new high, according to Galaxy's research head Alex Thorn.

Additionally, a trend of significant XRP acquisition by substantial investors has gained traction over the last two months, potentially pushing the price to record levels. Analytics firm Santiment observed that wallet addresses holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP increased their stock by 1.4 billion tokens, equating to approximately $3.8 billion since November 12. This accumulation persisted despite price stabilization following December highs.

Key Insights Table