WHALES PUSH XRP TO 2018 LEVELS.
Ripple's XRP price has reached $2.88 for the first time since January 2018. Analysts believe that the main driver of growth was large-scale whale purchases.
Experts noted a "significant accumulation" of the asset by wallets storing from 1 million XRP to 10 million XRP. Since November 12, 2024, the number of coins in whale addresses has increased by 1.43 billion - 37.4% of the total amount of their balances.
Derive protocol head of research Sean Dawson explained that the positive price dynamics are likely due to expectations of the XRP ETF approval in 2025.
According to JPMorgan analysts, inflows into spot exchange-traded funds for SOL and XRP could surpass the figure for Ethereum instruments within six months of launch.
Dawson believes that as Bitcoin is “bought up,” investor interest could shift to altcoins like XRP, fueling further growth.
He also noted that this year, thanks to the new crypto policy of the US government, the legal conflict between Ripple and the SEC, which has been ongoing since late 2020, could finally end.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.88. The market cap is $165.92 billion. The coin has risen in price by 25% in a week.