Excitement around faster cross-boarder payments pushes XRP coin to 75 cents, up nearly 200% on the week
The cryptocurrency that runs of the Ripple protocol has surged as much as 75% Friday, regaining the No. 2 spot from Ether on the list of most highly valued digital currencies.
The XRP coin XRPUSD, +18.66% has climbed more than 175% since Monday as the hype around the implementation of xRapid, a product that would enable financial institutions to process cross-border transactions faster and cheaper, according to Ripple Labs, the company that owns and developed the Ripple protocol.
“I am very confident that in the next one month or so you will see some good news coming in where we launch the product live in production,” Sagar Sarbhai, head of regulatory relations told CNBC on Monday.
Combined with the demise of Ether ETHUSD, -4.02% that at one point was down close to 90% peak-to-trough, XRP is now the second-largest digital currency with a market cap of $27.5 billion, compared to Ether’s $23.2 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
It’s the first time in nine months since the total value of XRP was greater than that of Ether.
“Given the nature of these rapid movements, my gut tells me these fluctuations are more than just speculation,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, when discussing the rise in XRP. “Nevertheless, the main chatter surrounding this move is all about the launch of the xRapid software next month, which aims to use XRP for international settlements.”
A single XRP coin was last going for 68 cents, up 69.4% on the day. It had reached an intraday high of 78 cents. Bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.39% the world’s largest digital currency, was lagging behind most of its rivals Friday, trading up 5.2% at $6,705.08.
The broad-based rally in cryptocurrencies took the total value for all digital currencies to a two-week high of $226 billion.
