Ripple’s XRP Is Now The Fourth Largest Cryptocurrency After $100 Billion Post-Election Surge
The XRP token, associated with Ripple Labs, has risen to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency globally by market capitalization. This surge followed several weeks of gains sparked by Donald Trump's election as president in November and growing rumors that the SEC might be considering dropping its lawsuit against Ripple.
The XRP token, associated with Ripple, momentarily reached the position of the third most valuable cryptocurrency globally on ... [+] Monday.
On Monday morning, the value of XRP climbed past $2.50, but then dipped a bit to $2.30. This still represents a 21% increase in just 24 hours and nearly a 50% rise since last week.
Since Trump's election win, Ripple's market capitalization has increased from approximately $30 billion to $131 billion as of Monday.
This past weekend, XRP's market capitalization surpassed $100 billion for the first time since 2018, allowing it to surpass Solana’s SOL and claim the title of the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency in the world.
On Monday morning, XRP momentarily surpassed the market capitalization of the Tether (USDT) stablecoin, but then fell back down a bit.
Bitcoin, which has fluctuated near the $100,000 mark over the last week, continues to be the leading cryptocurrency globally, boasting a market capitalization of almost $1.89 trillion. In second place is Ether, with a market cap of $436 billion.
What Sparked XRP's Surge This Weekend?
Since election day, XRP's price has been on a consistent upward trend. However, the significant increase in its value over the weekend followed a report from Fox Business, which indicated that the New York Department of Financial Services might soon give the green light for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin. According to the report, Ripple could potentially release RLUSD as early as December 4.
Ripple Labs, known for creating the XRP payment system and holding a large quantity of the token, faced a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2020. The SEC claimed that Ripple sold XRP tokens without registering them as securities. However, in July of the previous year, a federal judge ruled in favor of Ripple, stating that the company did not breach securities laws by trading the token on public exchanges. In October, the SEC decided to challenge this ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Meanwhile, following Donald Trump's election win and the announcement that SEC chair Gary Gensler will resign in January, there has been increased speculation regarding the Ripple case. Last week, former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Chris Giancarlo expressed to Fox Business his belief that the SEC should discontinue its case against Ripple. Giancarlo is also being considered as a potential candidate for the "Crypto Czar" role in the forthcoming Trump administration.
What To Look Out For
Last week, Ripple's CEO Brad Garlinghouse shared on X that he was featured in an interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes. During the discussion, he talked about cryptocurrency, the importance of clear regulations, and how the industry united to support pro-innovation candidates from both political parties via the Fairshake PAC.