XRP overtakes Solana in the market capitalization ranking

On December 1, 2024, XRP surpassed Solana’s (SOL) market capitalization for the first time in this market cycle, securing its position as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

As of this writing, XRP’s market capitalization stands at over $122 billion, compared to Solana’s $111.9 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

XRP has experienced a remarkable surge in recent weeks, beginning a rally on November 10 and peaking at $2.19 on December 1 — marking a seven-year high for the digital asset.

This meteoric rise is attributed to several factors, including a series of key partnerships, new product developments from Ripple Labs, the possibility of an XRP ETF, and rumors of a significant investment by Elon Musk. On November 1, 2024, asset manager 21Shares filed for an XRP ETF, fueling investor optimism that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — under new leadership starting January 2025 — will approve the pending ETF applications.

Additionally, on November 15, the New York Stock Exchange Arca petitioned the SEC to list the Bitwise Crypto Index Exchange-Traded Product. This index features 10 digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), and XRP.

Further interest in XRP was sparked on November 25 when asset manager WisdomTree filed for an XRP ETF in Delaware, joining 21Shares, Canary Capital, and Bitwise in pursuing regulatory approval.

On the same day, Ripple Labs introduced the first tokenized money market fund on the XRP Ledger through a partnership with Archax, a regulated UK cryptocurrency exchange. The collaboration will tokenize Abrdn’s $4.77 billion US dollar liquidity fund.

More recently, on November 29, reports emerged that Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, an overcollateralized US dollar-pegged token, is expected to receive approval from New York financial regulators in the near future.