According to The Block: XRP, closely related to Ripple Labs, has reached a market capitalization of $141.8 billion, surpassing USDT's $134.5 billion.
XRP has surpassed Tether's stablecoin in market capitalization, becoming the third largest cryptocurrency in the world, behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Currently, XRP's market capitalization is $141.8 billion, with a price increase of 30% in the past 24 hours, reaching $2.46. According to The Block's price page, XRP has risen by 364.1% in the past month.
The surge in XRP occurred after its weekend market capitalization surpassed Solana. Bitcoin rose by 1.28% and is currently trading at $97,862, while Ethereum increased by 0.68% to a price of $3,721. Solana saw a slight decline of 0.96% to $235.84.
Peter Chung, head of research at Presto Research, told The Block that XRP's recent strong performance seems to have been driven by news last week that NYDFS is about to approve Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD.
According to Fox News, the New York Department of Financial Services may soon approve Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, which the company is considering launching on December 4. Ripple has not immediately responded to requests for comment from The Block.
The price momentum of XRP may also be affected by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's announcement that he will resign in January. Since 2020, the SEC has been in a legal battle with Ripple, accusing the company of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, which it considers unregistered securities.
Chung said, "Gensler’s resignation is also a positive signal, as it means that the SEC under new leadership may resolve or withdraw many pending lawsuits, including the appeal against Ripple." He added, "It's hard to determine how long this surge will last. If the XRP community can leverage RLUSD to foster the XRP Ledger ecosystem and create value, this increase has the potential to continue. Ripple will certainly be in a better position without the interference of the SEC lawsuit."
Market participants are also watching the possibility of a spot XRP exchange-traded fund. Several asset management companies, including 21Shares, Canary Capital, and Bitwise, have applied for an XRP ETF.
