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.

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.

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%.

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. 

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

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