- XRP temporarily surpassed Tether to become the third-largest crypto by market capitalisation, reaching US$2.63 and a US$151 billion market cap.
- The bullish sentiment behind XRP’s price surge includes speculation that BlackRock may file for an XRP exchange-traded fund following the conclusion of the SEC lawsuit.
- Nate Geraci from The ETF Store suggested BlackRock wouldn’t want competitors launching ETFs for top cryptocurrencies without putting up a fight.
- Despite reaching the third position for the third time this year, XRP remains 35% below its all-time high of US$3.84 set in January 2018.
XRP has done it again – although only briefly: it took the third spot in the crypto market by market cap, briefly pushing past Tether (USDT). The price of XRP surged above US$2.63 (AU$4.12) late last night, which took the market cap to US$151 billion (AU$236.89 billion).
At the time of writing, the market cap has dropped back to US$144 billion (AU$225.93 billion), with an XRP price of US$2.46 (AU$3.85). XRP is still up over 4 per cent, even as the broader market trades in the red despite the US and China rolling back sky-high tariffs for the next 90 days.
Related: Metaplanet Surpasses El Salvador in Bitcoin Hoard with $129 Million Top-Up
What Fuelled the Rally?
The XRP rally was driven by broadly bullish sentiment, with 88 per cent of the community very optimistic about its trajectory, according to CoinMarketCap.
There’s also speculation that BlackRock may soon file for an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Although there is no evidence that they will do so, and it’s just a rumour at this stage, Nate Geraci from The ETF Store and popular commentator on Crypto Twitter with 60k followers, floated the idea back in March.
He said that BlackRock will eventually file for Solana (SOL) and XRP ETFs:
Solana could be any day. Think xrp once SEC lawsuit concluded.
Nate GeraciAnd now that the lawsuit has concluded, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple have finally buried the hatchet.
Geraci Believes BlackRock Wants in On the Action
Geraci argues that, as the largest asset manager and crypto-ETF leader, BlackRock wouldn’t want to miss out:
I simply don’t see them allowing competitors to come in & launch ETFs on 2 of the top 5 non-stablecoin crypto assets w/out any sort of fight.
Nate GeraciNevertheless, if BlackRock does file for an XRP ETF, it would be great news for the token. After all, BlackRock’s IBIT – the world’s largest Bitcoin ETF with 625,054 BTC under management – was one of the fastest growing ETFs in history.
No doubt the “XRP Army” hopes for a repeat performance and is watching closely for any announcement in this area.
Although this is XRP’s third time this year to pull past USDT, it still remains 35 per cent below its all-time high of US$3.84 (AU$6.02), which was set in January 2018.
Read also: Bill to Ban US Officials Spruiking Crypto Introduced by US Democratic Senators
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