The latest data shows that the market capitalization of XRP once exceeded $136.2 billion, surpassing USDT and regaining the "third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization", returning to the level before the SEC/Ripple lawsuit in 2020.
Previously, Odaily Planet Daily had provided a detailed analysis of the "US court ruling that Ripple did not violate federal securities law" in August, see the article "XRP surged over 20%, another stage victory for Ripple in the lawsuit against the SEC". Nearly 4 months later, the XRP price has broken through $2.3, an increase of nearly 4 times, and the market is relatively optimistic about the future performance of XRP.
Odaily Planet Daily will summarize the latest developments of Ripple and XRP and related information in this article for readers' reference.
The dual superposition of macroeconomic and microeconomic factors has led to a surge in the market capitalization of XRP
According to Infinite Market Cap data, with a market capitalization of $136.2 billion, XRP's market capitalization had briefly surpassed China Life Insurance and ranked 139th among global assets; currently, its market capitalization has fallen back to around $132.8 billion. In general, the surge in XRP's market capitalization is mainly due to a number of positive factors at the macro and micro levels:
Macro level: Trump's inauguration is expected to help resolve the "XRP vs. SEC dispute"
With Trump's successful election as the new US President, Ripple's 6-year-long "whether XRP is a security" dispute with the SEC may finally reach a final ruling, as Trump, the "crypto-friendly President", will play a positive role in the subsequent development of the crypto industry.
At the same time, as an active participant in the US presidential election campaign, Ripple previously donated $45 million to a PAC before the 2024 election, making it one of the largest donors to Fairshake, along with crypto exchange Coinbase, Jump Crypto and Andreessen Horowitz. Recently, it has donated another $25 million to Fairshake, further demonstrating its strong ambition to influence crypto-political tendencies.
On the other hand, a number of crypto companies, including Circle, Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase, a16z, and Paradigm, are vying for relevant positions in the crypto advisory committee that Trump is preparing to establish, seeking to have a voice in his planned US policy reforms, which has also laid the groundwork for the recent good market performance of XRP.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has also frequently spoken out, emphasizing the changes in crypto regulation that may occur under the leadership of President-elect Trump, mentioning that "Ripple and XRP may face a turning point, as the new crypto-friendly regulatory shift is expected to bring new hope and may resolve the legal dispute that has lasted for years."
Subsequently, he pointed out: "The SEC has been interfering in the crypto market, picking winners and losers for 6 years... and it has been 4 years since the SEC sued Ripple... Now, as these external (frankly unnatural and manipulative) market factors gradually disappear, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The tide is turning, the headwind is turning into a tailwind, and the opportunity is huge for those of us who believe in the future of XRP." Furthermore, in a previous interview, FOX Business reporter Liz Claman also indirectly confirmed that he had met with Trump and discussed crypto-related issues.
In November, the progress of the US SEC's lawsuit against Ripple was "the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order requiring the SEC's litigation briefs to be submitted by January 15, 2025." Subsequently, Judge Phyllis Hamilton approved the final judgment on the resolved Ripple class action lawsuit and ordered a stay on the remaining unresolved lawsuits, which shortened the time for the class action lawsuit and paved the way for the trial to begin on January 21, 2025. In addition, the current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's statement that he may resign before or after Trump's inauguration has also contributed to the previous price increase of XRP.
Coincidentally, January 21 is the first day of Trump's inauguration. Therefore, it can be said that Trump will play a "key role" in this "dispute between crypto institutions and regulatory authorities".
Micro level: 1 billion XRP locked in custody, stablecoin launch imminent
From the perspective of the project's own development, XRP may also "bloom again".
One of the important reasons directly driving the rise in XRP price may be the "1 billion XRP tokens locked in custody" in the early hours of today. According to Whale Alert monitoring, starting at 2:21 am today, Ripple re-locked 1 billion XRP in a custody wallet, worth about $1.546 billion. Previously, Ripple stated that it uses a custody account system to provide transparency and certainty for the XRP market. The company locks up most of its XRP holdings to ensure that it does not oversupply the market and manipulate prices. However, the company also uses the XRP in the custody accounts to invest in and support projects within the Ripple ecosystem. The monthly release of 1 billion XRP tokens from the custody account does not mean that all of them will enter the market. Ripple may choose to sell some to institutions or retail investors, use some for its own purposes, or return some to new trusts.
Additionally, as a crypto payment company, Ripple plans to expand its footprint into the stablecoin domain. In mid-November, according to official news, Ripple announced the upcoming launch of the US dollar stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD), which is a stablecoin designed for enterprise use cases (such as payments), focusing on stability, efficiency and transparency, aiming to enhance Ripple's cross-border payment solutions and meet the growing demand for US dollar-denominated transactions. It is reported that the stablecoin may be launched on December 4.
Previously, Ripple has also been quite active in promoting industry cooperation. In October, the digital asset infrastructure provider Ripple designated Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, Independent Reserve, CoinMENA and Bullish as trading partners for the upcoming Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin, with market makers B2C2 and Keyrock supporting its liquidity. According to official news, the crypto payment infrastructure company MoonPay has also previously announced a partnership with Ripple to support users in using their MoonPay accounts to purchase, store and manage XRP. In late November, Ripple also announced a partnership with Archax and UK asset manager ABRDN PLC, with the two parties planning to launch the first tokenized money market fund on the XRP Ledger.
Under a series of positive news, Ripple and XRP are ushering in a "second spring" in the crypto industry.
In addition, the XRP ETF will also be the next highlight in the crypto market, continuing to attract market attention.
Industry insiders are actively voicing their support, will the XRP ETF be the first to launch?
As early as late October, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote that the XRP ETF is "inevitable", mainly based on the growing share of Bitcoin spot ETFs. According to the latest data, the on-chain total holdings of US Bitcoin spot ETFs have exceeded 1.12 million BTC (about 1.128 million BTC), accounting for 5.7% of the current BTC supply, with an on-chain holding value of $108.9 billion.
At the same time, XRP has also received strong support from crypto industry professionals in different fields, mainly reflected in the following aspects:
XRP ETF registration has been initiated: WisdomTree fired the "first shot", followed by Bitwise, Canary, and 21Shares
At the end of November, Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett reported that global ETF provider WisdomTree has registered an XRP ETF in the US state of Delaware, and the company has confirmed that the filing is legal. It is reported that WisdomTree manages assets exceeding $100 billion.
At the same time, according to a post by The ETF Store President Nate Geraci: "There are currently 3 ETF applications holding the third largest crypto asset XRP by market capitalization.
Bitwise, Canary, and 21Shares have all filed for spot XRP ETFs. It is speculated that other issuers will also join in."
"Grayscale Selects": XRP Now Included in Crypto Investment Portfolio
In early November, Grayscale officially announced that its XRP Trust is now open to qualified accredited investors, providing investment opportunities in XRP. XRP is the core token of the distributed network XRP Ledger, which supports cross-border payments. Subsequently, at the end of November, Grayscale again announced that it has opened private placement subscriptions for 17 token trust funds, including XRP, to qualified investors.
The results prove that Grayscale's choice was very wise: according to statistics, the value of Grayscale's cryptocurrency holdings grew significantly in November. According to Cryptorank data, its cryptocurrency holdings increased in market value by more than 85% in the past month, with the growth mainly driven by tokens including XRP (up over 262% during the period).
Asset Management Giant Bitwise Becomes Ripple Partner
In November, Ripple announced that it would invest in the Bitwise Physical XRP ETP, but the specific investment amount was not disclosed. It is understood that the Bitwise Physical XRP ETP was previously known as the "European XRP ETP" and is part of Bitwise's suite of crypto asset funds.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the decision to invest in the Bitwise fund is very much in line with the trend of growing interest in crypto asset-related exchange-traded products. Subsequently, Bitwise officially announced that the Bitwise Physical XRP ETP (GXRP) has assets under management exceeding $80 million, with Ripple as one of the investors, and the product is listed and traded on the Deutsche Börse Xetra, allowing European investors to gain exposure to XRP through GXRP.
Industry Figures Speak Up: Solana Ecosystem, BNB Ecosystem, Cardano Ecosystem and Others Voice Support
Just today, Solana co-founder toly posted that "we need a national XRP reserve." This statement is also seen as echoing former President Trump's emphasis on "establishing a Bitcoin national strategic reserve."
At the end of November, CZ retweeted a news article stating that since XRP is not a security but a commodity under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may drop the Ripple case. This information came from an interview with former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo.
Previously, Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson had posted praise for Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, calling him a "great CEO" and describing their interaction as "highly collaborative," sparking speculation that Cardano and Ripple may explore a strategic partnership.
Data Perspective: Market Trading Active, Multiple Data Points Reach New Highs
From a market data perspective, XRP is also one of the top performers.
In the Korean market, Upbit's trading volume grew by more than 100% in seven days, with cryptocurrencies including XRP being the main contributors. In the fourth quarter, XRP's trading volume reached $38.6 billion, far exceeding Bitcoin's $30.1 billion.
In terms of price, XRP briefly broke through $2.29 USDT today, reaching a new high since January 2018.
Additionally, in the contract data, according to Coinglass data, the total open interest of XRP futures contracts on the network is 17.39 billion XRP, equivalent to $4.051 billion, a new all-time high, with a 24-hour increase of 20.34%. Among them, the open interest of the Bybit XRP contract is 548 million XRP (about $1.277 billion), ranking first, with a 24-hour increase of 19.13%.
In terms of trading volume, with XRP breaking through $2, its 24-hour trading volume has also exceeded $25 billion, currently reaching $25,338,798,676, and the trading volume to market cap ratio has reached 18.4%, indicating relatively high trading activity compared to its market cap.
One more thing, affected by various positive news, the XRP-related posts on the X platform have reached 480,000, even far exceeding the DOGE-related content, which has a strong meme attribute.
If all goes well, the XRP ETF may become the "third cryptocurrency ETF" in the U.S. market after the BTC ETF and ETH ETF.
Conclusion: What is the Future Direction of Ripple and XRP?
As the market cap of XRP has returned to the level before the SEC/Ripple lawsuit, the "first crypto regulatory case" that originated in 2018 is about to reach its conclusion, and there are different views in the market about the future of Ripple and XRP.
Previously, Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings, had stated that once the SEC issue is resolved, Ripple should quickly prepare for an IPO. (Odaily Planet Daily note: It is understood that SBI Holdings has been cooperating with Ripple since 2017 to promote cross-border payment innovation. Kitao is a key figure in the Ripple-SBI collaboration and joined Ripple's board of directors in April 2019. His long-term support for Ripple and XRP can be traced back to 2017, when he predicted XRP would become the global standard for digital currencies, emphasizing its efficiency, low transaction costs, and scalability.) Although similar proposals have previously been shelved by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, it can also be seen as one of the possible directions for Ripple's future development.
After all, as the crypto regulatory environment continues to improve, there may be more "crypto concept stocks" listed on the U.S. stock market. At that time, Ripple and XRP may usher in another wave of development.
Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:
Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats
Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App
Twitter Official Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia
