Ripple’s Market Cap Nears that of Ethereum

Ripple’s explosive bull run culminates with a market cap of $19 billion, a 47% increase since the start of the day.

The third most popular cryptocurrency, Ripple (XRP), experienced an impressive bull run. According to data from coinmarketcap.com, XRP prices skyrocketed to $0.48, a 47% increase over the $0.32 at the start of the day. The crypto coin has a daily trading volume of over $1 billion.

For a brief moment at the peak of its run, Ripple’s total market capitalization reached $19 billion, just shy of Ethereum’s $22 billion market cap. The last time XRP was valued at $19 billion was in June of this year.

Partnership with High-Profile Financial Institutions

Ripple’s bull run began on Thursday after a Ripple Labs Inc. executive announced the company is developing a new payment service. In an interview with CNBC, Sagar Sarbhai, head of regulatory relations for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at Ripple, said the product will be called xRapid and aims to help banks speed up transaction times.

"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," Sarbhai told CNBC.

Numerous firms – including Western Union, MoneyGram and rising payment newcomers MercuryFX, Viamericas and Cuallix – have already tested the product. Ripple has also struck a deal with established financial institutions, such as American Express and Santander, although those partnerships appear to be focused on xCurrent, another product by the company.

At the time of the writing of this article, no clear reason for the spike of XRP’s price was available, although the altcoin leveled up at $0.49 and is currently at $0.44. According to community members, the double-digit gains were engineered by crypto whales buying, as well as a combination of technical factors and a strong FOMO (fear of missing out) effect as a result of earlier announcements.