XRP Reclaims Position as Third-Largest Crypto, Analysts Predict Token Value to Hit $18 by December

XRP has reclaimed its position as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a title it held before its legal troubles with the SEC.

Key points:

1. XRP has once again become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a title it previously held before its legal troubles with the SEC began. The coin is currently trading at $2.39, up 30% in the past 24 hours and 68% over the week.

2. This rally follows years of uncertainty after a December 2020 lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission labeled XRP, also known as an unregistered security, and saw the coin plummet from trading at $0.50 to $0.1700, wiping out a significant amount of its value and dropping to seventh place.

3. The present momentum has brought XRP back into the investor spotlight, where it continues to rally. With $3.69 billion of trade volume on South Korea’s Upbit exchange, accounting for 27.35% of the total trades, XRP is outpacing Bitcoin and Ethereum by a wide margin.

4. Two major developments that contributed to XRP’s price action in this recent surge are: Chris Giancarlo, the former chairman of the U.S. CFTC, expressed optimism over Ripple’s legal prospects in a crypto-friendly regulatory landscape, with his analysis indicating XRP’s status as a non-security, and on December 1, “Ripple 24,” the wallet designed by the company, had a major token unlock of 500 million XRP, valued at $970 million.

5. Some analysts are boldly predicting the future price of the XRP token, with extreme optimism creating forecasts for the token value to reach $18 by December this year and an ambitious rate of $150 in January 2025. This optimism is based on the historical patterns of XRP’s 2017 bull run, which saw the token experience exponential and largely unforeseen growth in price under similar conditions.