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XRP, the cryptocurrency used by the United States blockchain payments firm Ripple, has made a historic comeback as the third-largest coin by market capitalization, sparking reactions from the community.
XRP (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/xrp-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">XRP</a>) dropped out of the top three cryptocurrencies by market cap in December 2020 as the US Securities and Exchange Commission <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-unveils-1-3b-suit-against-ripple-over-xrp" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">sued Ripple on allegations</a> of facilitating an “unregistered digital asset securities offering.”
With the SEC’s lawsuit nearing resolution and <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-victory-sec-battle-chapter" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Ripple achieving several legal victories</a> in 2024, XRP has rallied, posting a massive spike in November after <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-declares-victory-crypto-community" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election</a>.
<figure>
 <img alt="Ripple, SEC, XRP, Market Capitalization" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-12/019386b1-40bc-748f-b15b-92073b04d3d9" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Top five coins by market capitalization as of Dec. 2. Source: CoinGecko
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After lagging behind Tether’s stablecoin, USDt (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/tether-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">USDT</a>), Binance’s BNB (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/binance-coin-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BNB</a>), Solana (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/solana-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">SOL</a>) and Circle’s USD Coin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="http://usdc" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">USDC</a>) for years, XRP is now the third largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BTC</a>) and Ether (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">ETH</a>).
“This is how it looked before Dec. 22, 2020,” pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/JohnEDeaton1/status/1863425207484002353" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">wrote</a> on X.
<h2 id="four-years-as-the-seventh-biggest-coin">Four years as the seventh-biggest coin</h2>
When the SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, the price fell from around $0.50 to $0.17, wiping off more than $15 billion in market value, Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/1863306002977747423" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said</a> in an X post on Dec. 1, 2024.
“While the price recovered, XRP spent the next four years at the #7 spot,” Terrett added.
<figure>
 <img alt="Ripple, SEC, XRP, Market Capitalization" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-12/019386b0-c077-7b0a-9c48-8d01a22fc463" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 XRP’s market cap next to UDST, BNB, SOL and USDC on Aug. 28, 2024. Source: CoinGecko
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“The fact that it never fell out of the top 10 said a lot,” one commentator <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/cyberwitherik/status/1863309249524203744" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">noted</a>.
<h2 id="xrp-is-now-more-popular-than-crypto-google-trends">XRP is now more popular than crypto: Google Trends</h2>
Amid a massive XRP breakout in November, the cryptocurrency has made waves on the web, with XRP-related Google searches spiking above those related to “crypto.”
<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&amp;q=crypto,xrp" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">According</a> to data from Google Trends, the number of “XRP” searches broke above “crypto” searches on Google at least three times in November.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-xrp-flips-solana-market-capitalization" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-xrp-flips-solana-market-capitalization">Ripple’s XRP token flips Solana’s market capitalization</a>
The current metrics also suggest that users continue to search for XRP significantly more than crypto in general at the time of writing.
<figure>
 <img alt="Ripple, SEC, XRP, Market Capitalization" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-12/019386b0-3ace-785a-913e-5378f56ceef9" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 “XRP” searches broke above “crypto” on Google. Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/AltcoinDailyio/status/1863382253172138091" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://x.com/AltcoinDailyio/status/1863382253172138091">Altcoin Daily</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
According to Google Trends, XRP also <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=eth,xrp" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">flipped</a> ETH by Google searches in early November, but the data <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&amp;q=bitcoin,xrp" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&amp;q=bitcoin,xrp">suggests</a> it has yet to flip Bitcoin.
<h2 id="will-xrp-flip-eth"> Will XRP flip ETH?</h2>
At the time of writing, XRP had a long way to go before beating Ether as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, with ETH market value exceeding XRP by 219%.
<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/MMCrypto/status/1863318555673899070" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">According</a> to crypto trader Christopher Jaszczynski, who posts on X under the social media brand name MMCrypto, XRP will flip ETH when its price surges to $7.75.
<figure>
 <img alt="Ripple, SEC, XRP, Market Capitalization" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-12/019386af-d31d-7144-b58b-135b2d0bbf5b" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 XRP (XRP) price chart over the past year. Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/xrp" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/xrp">CoinGecko</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.35, up 24% over the past 24 hours. Since Nov. 1, the XRP price jumped 341%, with annual returns of roughly 280%.
 Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/dogecoin-porsche-solana-trader-makes-millions-zachxbt-memecoin-scam-hodlers-digest/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Dogecoin flips Porsche, trader turns $160 into $5.6M, and more: Hodler’s Digest, Nov. 24 – 30</a>

XRP returns to 3rd-largest crypto after 4-year battle with SEC

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