XRP takes lead in crypto rally over bitcoin

While bitcoin has outperformed other cryptocurrencies since the onset of the banking crisis earlier this month, XRP has taken the lead in recent days.

The token has been trading up in the past week and saw a sharp uptick over the weekend. It is currently trading at around $0.60, up 9.2% over the past 24 hours and 16.9% in the last week.

XRP’s performance could signal how investors are feeling about a pending lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against payments firm Ripple, which initially launched the token in 2012.

“Google Trends data confirms that users searching for ‘XRP’ are highly interested in the case’s outcome,” said Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at FRNT Financial. “It’s unclear what specifically is causing the optimism around XRP right now. However, there is significant focus on crypto regulation. The SEC’s case against Ripple may be gaining increased attention as a result, amplifying optimism from [Ripple CEO Brad] Garlingouse and figures close to the case.”

Bitcoin, meanwhile, is trading at around $28,329 — up 5.4% in the last day. It has mostly been trading between $27,000 and $28,000 over the past two weeks, at times briefly coming close to $29,000.

“To the topside, 28.5/29.0k remains critical resistance to the continuation of this rally, so we can expect plenty of stops and fast moves higher through there,” crypto trading firm B2C2 said in a newsletter.

XRP/USD chart by TradingView

BTC/USD chart by TradingView

Galaxy Digital shares were up by 11.2%, a day after the company announced a net loss of $1 billion for its fiscal year 2022. Coinbase and MicroStrategy saw shares rise by 2.6% and 9.8%, respectively.

In traditional financial markets, the Nasdaq 100 was up by 1.5% and the S&P 500 by 1.1%.

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