As of the end of the third quarter, XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), solidified its position as the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, reaching approximately $34.7 billion.
Compared with the second quarter, its circulating market value increased by 31.1% month-on-month. During the same period, the price of XRP also rose sharply by 28.5%.
However, with President-elect Donald Trump’s recent victory and a clearer outlook on U.S. regulation, these indicators have fallen short, with the gains over the past three weeks being the largest in nearly seven years.
XRP daily transaction volume surges 94%
The recent momentum can be attributed to several key developments, according to research firm Messari and its third-quarter report. Most notably, asset manager Grayscale launched the XRP Trust in September, giving accredited investors a new way to invest in XRP.
This progress, coupled with the S-1 filings submitted in recent months by ETF issuers Bitwise, Canary, 21Shares, and WisdomTree to launch an XRP ETF, highlights the growing institutional interest in the token.
In the third quarter, several key network metrics reversed previous downward trends. The average daily transaction volume increased by 94% quarter-on-quarter to 1.7 million, with new addresses growing by 10% to 105,000.
However, this growth is primarily driven by microtransactions (transactions involving less than 1 XRP), which Ripple's report indicates are related to spam activity. Notably, the increase in new addresses contrasts sharply with a 34% year-on-year decline in the number of new addresses from the third quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2024.
Despite some indicators rising, the total number of active addresses declined by 3% quarter-on-quarter, with the number of active sending addresses dropping by 20%, while the number of unique receiving addresses increased by 7%.
Price is approaching the historical high of 2018
Payment transactions also showed significant growth, increasing by 110% quarter-on-quarter after experiencing declines in the previous two quarters. This surge followed a substantial increase in registration activity that began at the end of 2023.
In addition to payment transactions, NFT-related activity on the XRPL has also seen significant changes. NFT minting and burning transactions grew by 93% and 148% respectively, while NFT creation and offer acceptance transactions saw a slight decline.
Nevertheless, a closer look at the data from the fourth quarter reveals the most significant upward trend for XRP in years, with its market capitalization soaring nearly $130 billion in just three weeks, making it the third-largest digital asset in the market, behind Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Its price has also followed suit, skyrocketing 432% in recent weeks to a current trading price of $2.71 per token, nearing the historical high of $3,040 reached during the 2018 bull market, with only a 20% gap between the current price and the all-time high.
Overall, data from the third and fourth quarters paints a picture of an evolving and developing XRP ecosystem characterized by increased transaction activity, heightened institutional interest, and efforts to improve XRP's value proposition.
