XRP Surges 14%, Nears $1.70 Level Last Seen in April 2021

XRP surged 14% in the past 24 hours, outpacing bitcoin and other majors, extending a month-long run that has seen its price triple.

Nov 29, 2024, 11:11 a.m.

What to know:

Several fundamental and regulatory developments have pushed the XRP price to levels not seen since April 2021, with bulls now eyeing the $2 mark in a sign of renewed strength for the previously embattled token.

XRP surged 14% in the past 24 hours, outpacing bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, extending a month-long run that has seen the price rise 200% to make the token the best-performing major token alongside dogecoin (DOGE).

Prices approached $1.70 in the European morning, with 24-hour trading volume rising 30% to $10 billion. Volume was led by South Korean exchange UpBit.

XRP/USD price chart. (TradingView)

There was no immediately apparent cause for Friday's jump, though several factors have contributed to XRP's appeal in recent weeks.

The rise started in early November after Republican victories in the U.S. elections renewed investor confidence in tokens with links to U.S. companies, such as XRP's closely related Ripple Labs.

XRP advanced again in mid-November when U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said he would step down in January — boosting hopes of a more relaxed regulatory environment.

XRP and U.S. dollar-denominated open interest are over record levels, with over 2 billion tokens (worth more than $2 billion at current prices) in futures positions betting on further market volatility.

Some traders also expect an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S., especially those anticipating a more-lenient regulatory environment. A money-market fund launched on XRP Ledger, the network that uses XRP as fees to confirm and process transactions, boosting expectations of institutional usage.

Ripple has said it plans to invest an unspecified amount in the newly rebranded Bitwise Physical XRP ETP (earlier called the ETC Group Physical XRP), as reported Wednesday. The announcement sent XRP higher by 10% at the time.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.