The price of Ripple’s XRP token soared to a seven-year high on Thursday, fueled by the growing positive momentum of the altcoin market.
The Ripple Labs-owned token is currently trading at around $3.66, up more than 35% in a week, surpassing the record $3.40 reached in January 2018.
Meanwhile, other major altcoins such as Ethereum and Solana have also performed strongly, up 21% and 8% respectively, far outpacing Bitcoin’s weekly gain of just 5.5%.
The significant rise in XRP’s price has also seen it overtake stablecoin USDT (Tether), making it the third-largest digital asset by market capitalization. On Thursday, XRP’s market cap surpassed $200 billion, compared to $160 billion for USDT.
The fresh surge in XRP’s price signals investor confidence in Ripple’s vision to build a blockchain network that is compliant with regulations and adapted for institutional use.
Messari research analyst Matt Kreiser said it was a validation of Ripple’s efforts and direction over the years.
Launched alongside the XRP Ledger in 2012, XRP was used to facilitate cross-border and cross-currency payment transactions earlier than most other crypto assets that exist today.
XRP peaked in early 2018, when the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) boom drove up the price of digital assets. At the time, hopes of institutional adoption by Wall Street were still considered far-fetched and unrealistic for many market players.
Ripple’s products are designed to help financial firms move money faster and cheaper than traditional banking systems.
The company also launched the Ripple USD stablecoin last year and has now reached $517 million in total usage in just eight months.
