At the end of the third quarter of the year, XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), solidified its position as the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, reaching approximately $34.7 billion. This represents a notable 31.1% increase in its circulating market cap quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) compared to Q2. The XRP price also experienced a significant increase of 28.5% during the same period. However, with the recent victory of President-elect Donald Trump and a clearer horizon on the regulatory front in the US, these metrics have fallen short, with the last three weeks’ rally being the largest in nearly 7 years. XRP Sees 94% Surge In Daily Transactions Research firm Messari and its Q3 report show that the recent momentum can be attributed to several key developments. Most notably, asset management firm Grayscale launched its XRP Trust in September, giving accredited investors a new way to gain exposure to XRP. This development, along with S-1 filings by exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers Bitwise, Canary, 21Shares and WisdomTree to launch XRP ETFs in recent months, underscores the growing institutional interest in the token. Related Reading: Cardano Could Be Heading For A 20% Correction – Technical Data Signals Bearish Price Structure In Q3, several key network metrics reversed previous declines. Average daily transactions soared by 94% QoQ to reach 1.7 million, while new addresses increased by 10% to 105,000. However, the increase was largely driven by microtransactions (transactions involving less than 1 XRP), which Ripple’s report noted were associated with a spam messaging campaign. Notably, this increase in new addresses contrasts with a 34% year-over-year decline in quarterly new addresses from Q3 2023 to Q2 2024. Despite the uptick in certain metrics, total active addresses fell by 3% QoQ, driven by a 20% decrease in active sending addresses, while unique receiving addresses rose by 7%. Price Nears 2018 Record High Payment transactions also displayed remarkable growth, increasing by 110% QoQ after experiencing declines in the previous two quarters. This surge followed a significant spike related to inscription activities that began at the end of 2023. In addition to payment transactions, NFT-related activities on the XRPL also saw notable changes. NFT minting and burning transactions increased by 93% and 148%, respectively, while NFT creation and offer acceptance transactions saw slight declines. Related Reading: Bitcoin Price At $245,000? Here’s When You Should Be Expecting It Despite this, if going deeper into the Q4 data, XRP has seen its most notable uptrend in years, with its market capitalization soaring by nearly $130 billion in just three weeks, making it the third largest digital asset on the market, just behind Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Its price has clearly followed suit, with a colossal 432% uptrend in the past few weeks to a current trading price of $2,71 per token, close to the record high of $3,040 reached during the 2018 bull run, and now with only a 20% gap between the current price and the all-time high. Overall, the data from Q3 and part of Q4 paints a picture of a growing and evolving XRP ecosystem characterized by increased transaction activity, institutional interest, and a commitment to improving XRP’s value proposition. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
Societe Generale-FORGE (SG-FORGE), the digital asset subsidiary of French banking giant Societe Generale, has announced plans to deploy its MiCA-compliant stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible (EURCV), on the XRP Ledger in 2025. The decision makes the XRPL the third blockchain platform for EURCV, following its initial launches on Ethereum and Solana. XRP Ledger Gains French Stablecoin Partner […]
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) is on the brink of a major governance transformation with the official confirmation of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). This shift is poised to decentralize decision-making processes and significantly enhance community participation, marking a pivotal evolution in the ecosystem’s governance framework. XRP Ledger DAO Confirmed Prominent community member Crypto Eri (@sentosumosaba) […]
The XLS-40 amendment on the XRP Ledger, which introduces a new standard for Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), was activated on October 30. Approved by 28 out of 35 validators (85.71%), the amendment went live yesterday. Mayukha Vadari, a Senior Software Engineer at RippleX, announced the activation via X (formerly Twitter), stating: “The XRPL DID amendment goes […]
As a recent Messari report outlined, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) showcased notable progress during the first quarter of 2024. The decentralized public blockchain, which facilitates the transfer of XRP, fiat currencies, and other digital assets, has demonstrated substantial activity. XRP Ledger Burn Rate Slows Amid Low Fees During Q1 2024, XRP, the native token of the XRPL, secured its position as the sixth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, reaching $34.1 billion (currently $29M). Despite a slight price decrease, XRP’s circulating market cap witnessed a 1.3% growth quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). Related Reading: Forget Fear, Embrace Greed? Bitcoin Soars As Sentiment Turns Red Hot The XRPL employs a deflationary mechanism by systematically burning transaction fees. This process exerts downward pressure on the total supply of XRP, which stands at 100 billion tokens. Since the inception of the XRP Ledger, approximately 12 million XRP have been burned. However, the low burn rate during Q1 can be attributed to the network’s relatively low transaction fees (less than $0.002 per transaction). Additionally, 1 billion XRP is released from escrow to Ripple each month, with any unutilized tokens being placed into new escrow contracts. This pattern will continue until the remaining approximately 45 billion XRP becomes liquid; at this point, the deflationary pressure from burned fees will be the primary variable affecting supply. While XRP’s price decreased marginally 0.1% QoQ, lagging behind the overall crypto market’s 63.0% increase, it rose 14.8% year over year (YoY). Inscription-Fueled Transactions Propel XRPL Daily Payments The report highlights that revenue in the XRPL is measured as total fees collected by the network, which are subsequently burned, contributing to the redistribution of wealth from transaction fee spenders to XRP holders. Network activity showed significant growth, with active addresses and transactions increasing by 37% and 113% QoQ, respectively. A substantial portion of transaction activity on the XRPL stemmed from inscriptions, a transaction type popularized in early 2023. Over 30 million transactions were sent to a single account by approximately 45,000 accounts engaged in inscription-related activities. According to Messari, inscriptions, facilitated by XRP Script, played a key role in driving the surge in daily payments, which soared 350% QoQ to 2 million transactions. Related Reading: $2.9 Billion In Mt. Gox Bitcoin On The Move For The First Time In 5 Years, Where Is It Headed? Lastly, the report notes that the XRP Ledger blockchain witnessed a net increase of 150,000 accounts, driving the total number of accounts up by 3.1% to 5.15 million in Q1. However, new addresses decreased 12.4% QoQ to 183,000, primarily due to the high number of addresses created in Q4, coinciding with the inception of inscription activity. As of press time, XRP is valued at $0.5279, down 2.5% in the past 24 hours and 3.5% in the past seven days, which is in line with the broader market trend. Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com