Today, the total market capitalization of Ripple exceeded $100 billion for the first time ever. This milestone makes Ripple the first cryptocurrency other than bitcoin to break into the 12-figure threshold, and positions it as the second largest crypto by total market capitalization. 

Also Read: Markets Update: Bitcoin Markets Retrace to the $15,000 Area

Ripple Gains 1,000% in One Month

The value of XRP has skyrocketed this month, surging from less than $0.25 USD on the 1st of December to set an all-time high of roughly $2.50 earlier today on Bitfinex. The price spike has witnessed Ripple come to comprise the second largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalization, with XRP becoming the first altcoin to exceed a total market cap of $100 billion USD. As of this writing, XRP is trading for approximately $2.35.

XRP broke above its preceding all-time high of approximately $0.40 on the 13th of December – at the time comprising a gain of roughly 100% since the 8th of December. Following the establishment of a new record price high, the XRP markets continued to surge, producing further gains of more than 500% in less than three weeks. Looking at a daily chart, the last two weeks of trade has produced volume divergence despite the price continuing to gain hundreds of percent – suggesting that the establishment of a local top may be coming soon in the XRP markets.

Many Analysts Have Attributed the Recent Meteoric Price Rise to Ripple’s ‘Lockup’ of 55 Billion XRP Earlier This Month

On the 7th of December, Ripple announcedthat it had successfully locked up 55 billion XRP via a “cryptographically secured escrow account”. Ripple originally published its intention to conduct the lockup in May, stating that “By securing the lion’s share of our XRP, investors can now mathematically verify the maximum supply of XRP that can enter the market.”

The lockup was conducted using the “escrow feature in the XRP ledger” which Ripple launched during early 2017. The company has utilized the escrow feature to “establish 55 billion contracts of 1 billion XRP each that will expire on the first day of every month from months 0 to 54. As each contract expires, the XRP will become available for Ripple’s use,” with the company stating that it may “use [the] XRP for incentives to market makers who offer tighter spreads for payments and selling XRP to institutional investors.” Ripple adds that any unused XRP will be “return[ed]… to the back of the escrow rotation.”

Do you think that the XRP markets will continue to rally heading into 2018? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!