Ripple‘s XRP experienced a remarkable surge over the weekend, crossing the $2 mark for the first time in nearly seven years.
CryptoSlate data shows that XRP hit a high of $2.50 – the highest since January 2018 – before stabilizing to $2.27 by press time.
Despite the slight drop, XRP is still up 20% per day, bringing its gains weekly to 54%. Over the past month, the token’s value has surged by 345%, marking an impressive fourfold rise.
With this surge, XRP has surpassed Solana to take the 4th spot in the list of top cryptocurrency by market capitalization. XRP’s market cap is now $133.9 billion, while Solana trails at $112 billion.
If it maintains its current momentum, XRP’s market cap will surpass that of Tether’s USDT, currently at $134 billion.
South Korean traders’ fuel run
A significant portion of XRP’s recent surge is attributed to South Korean traders.
Blockchain analytics firm Scopescan noted that XRP/KRW trading volume on Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange, hit $3.8 billion in the last 24 hours, outpacing Bitcoin trades by 11 times.
On Bithumb, another major South Korean platform, XRP trades reached $1.2 billion, representing 32% of the exchange’s total volume.
While global trading platforms such as Binance and OKX have reported an increase in XRP, Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to trade at higher volumes.
Ryan Kim, co-founder of Hashed, highlighted the loyalty of South Korea’s XRP community. He attributed this excitement to the early adoption campaigns that were conducted in South Korea, and suggested that investors who have been investing for a long time are seeing significant gains.
“He said:
“Ripple Labs sold XRP to Korean Ajummas with Ponzi scheme in 2014. It called ‘Ripple Market Korea.’ There were so many people invested in XRP back then. Probably they made so much money lol There is genuine XRP community in Korea and That’s why Korean are buying XRP a lot.”
Additional catalysts
Meanwhile, XRP’s rally also coincides with a significant shift in market sentiment, fueled by regulatory optimism and institutional interest.
Market observers noted that President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance and the resignation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler have renewed hope for a favorable outcome in Ripple’s legal battles against the financial regulator.
The potential approval of XRP spot ETFs also adds excitement. 21Shares, Bitwise and other major players have submitted applications to sell such products. This indicates a growing interest from institutions. Brad Garlinghouse of Ripple believes it is only a question of time before an XRP-based ETF becomes available, particularly after the SEC has approved funds similar to those for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
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