Litecoin's market cap has now overtaken XRP — and the troubled altcoin may fall even further.
Bitcoin’s sensational bull run is showing no signs of slowing — with the world’s biggest cryptocurrency achieving a new all-time high of $36,361.32 on Jan. 6.
The mood music surrounding BTC is exceedingly upbeat, with traders shrugging off the dramatic 14% crash seen on Monday.
High-profile crypto commentators, such as Anthony Pompliano, wasted little time in explaining why BTC’s market cap is surging:
“There is literally not enough Bitcoin available for all the institutions that want to buy it. I have been saying for 18+ months that the halving plus historic money printing was going to be rocket fuel. You’re living through it now.”
It’s also worth noting that the levels of computing power required to keep the Bitcoin network secure has also surged to record highs — exceeding 148 exahashes per second.
At the time of writing, Ether has also managed to secure 24-hour gains of above 10% — leaving the No. 2 cryptocurrency tantalizingly close to the 52-week high of $1,159.27 that was set over the weekend.
Among the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap, XRP is the only one that has suffered price losses over the past 24 hours.
In a significant and unprecedented milestone, XRP’s market cap has now been exceeded by Litecoin — meaning the Ripple-backed altcoin has now slid to the No. 5 slot. With Cardano posting dazzling gains of 28% in a day, there’s a risk that XRP could fall even further down the rankings.
Overall, the crypto market cap is hurtling toward $1 trillion, with Bitcoin’s dominance standing at an exceedingly healthy 68.3%.
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