Ripple's cross-border payment token, XRP, has surged nearly 15% within the past 24 hours, reaching an intraday peak of $2.44 during early Asian trading on January 2.
This marks the highest level XRP has attained since mid-December, as payment coins spearhead the market's entry into the new year. Despite an earlier peak above $2.90 in early December—a seven-year high—XRP retraced to $2 by month's end.
Ripple's CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, cited the growing momentum and increased focus on the token’s real-world utility on January 1.
On New Year's Day, it was noted by community advocate 'Jack the Rippler' that Ripple released its regular 500 million XRP from escrow, accompanying it with a notable message. The transaction memo stated, "January 20 is around the corner," with a nod to the anticipated political administration, suggesting collaboration with the incoming Trump administration. Furthermore, Jack the Rippler pointed out that XRP has "broke out from a descending triangle and is ready for $3!"
Ripple's counterpart, Stellar Lumens (XLM), which shares a common lineage, also showed robust performance. XLM witnessed a 28% increase, achieving an intraday high of $0.456 during the Asian trading session. Despite spiking above $0.60 in late November, XLM remains 50% lower than its 2018 all-time high. Cardano (ADA) has seen a rise of 10%, reaching $0.95, marking its highest price in weeks. Other notable altcoin performers include Avalanche (AVAX), Chainlink (LINK), and Hedera (HBAR).
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has seen a modest 1.3% gain, reaching above $95,000 during Thursday morning's trading. Since its decline below $100,000 in mid-December, Bitcoin has remained in a phase of consolidation. BTC's market dominance has slipped to 57.44%, down 7% from its nearly 62% multi-year high observed in late November.
Analysts anticipate a significant altcoin rally in Q1 2025, potentially resulting in a shift of capital from Bitcoin to alternative cryptocurrencies.
