The price of the native token of the XRP Ledger has surged by more than 44.5% so far this year significantly outperforming the wider cryptocurrency market and boosting its market capitalization to nearly $200 billion.
The surge has seen XRP’s market cap surpass that of Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, with data from Google Finance showing the financial institution currently has a market capitalization of $192 billion.
Meanwhile XRP boasts a $193 billion market capitalization after its price exploded, effectively cementing its position as the third-largest digital asset by the metric. It’s still far behind Ethereum’s $400 billion market cap, and Bitcoin’s $1.9 trillion.
XRP is outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market due to several factors, including a recent report from JPMorgan that indicates the potential for a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) to attract billions of dollars in investor funds.
XRP, as most digital assets, started surging on expectations of a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. Anticipated policy shifts, including the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and the appointment of Paul Atkins as head of the SEC, have boosted investor confidence.
Atkins, is worth noting, is seen as a crypto-friendly figure to head the regulator, which has been embroiled in a legal battle with Ripple — a major player in the XRP ecosystem — over the firm’s XRP sales.
Trump’s pro-crypto stance has seen many speculate that XRP could soon see the launch of a spot ETF offering exposure to it. Several companies have already filed for spot XRP ETFs, including Bitwise, Canary Capital, WisdomTree, and 21Shares. Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse has suggested such a fund is “just inevitable.”
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