Ripple rockets past ethereum to become 2nd most valuable cryptocurrency after bitcoin
Ripple has now gained almost 35,000% this year, overtaking ethereum on Saturday to become the world’s second-biggest virtual currency.
Ripple has had the biggest growth in value among notable digital tokens this year. It went from less than a cent ($0.006523) in January to $2.24 on Saturday, which represents a surge of almost 350 times in value.
After Saturday’s jump, ripple’s market cap hit $86 billion at 12:00 GMT, leaving ethereum $20 billion behind.
While bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies are known for being decentralized, ripple owners are known and the cryptocurrency is centralized.
The ripple cryptocurrency, XRP token, operates under parent company Ripple, a privately funded firm based in San Francisco, California.
According to its founders, ripple seeks to enable “secure, instantly and nearly free global financial transactions of any size with no chargebacks.”
The advantage of ripple, according to its backers, is that it is not just a cryptocurrency. It is also used as a digital protocol that acts as a bridge to other currencies and doesn’t discriminate against peers, whether they are using digital money, fiat currencies, or even mobile minutes.
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