Ripple's XRP Token Sets All-Time Price High Above $3

Just two weeks after it surpassed $1 for the first time, the price of XRP, the token that powers San Francisco startup Ripple's open-source RippleNet network, has set a new all-time high of $3.

According to data site CoinMarketCap, XRP has climbed more than 21% in the last 24 hours, hitting a price of $3 just after 17:00 UTC today. Ripple’s rally comes after hitting a temporary low of $2 immediately following its previous all-time-high of $2.85 on Dec. 30, 2017, according to CoinMarketCap.

Still, XRP is up 144 percent on the week, and more than 1,000 percent month over month. The cryptocurrency was trading at $0.26 just over 30 days ago. With the change, XRP is also bringing a shake-up to the leaderboard of the most valuable cryptocurrencies.

At press time, XRP has heavily increased its lead over ethereum, long the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. While just 24 hours ago Ripple had a $17 billion lead, that figure has now increased to $26 billion. Ripple passed ethereum in market cap less than a week ago, and has been holding the number three spot on Dec. 29, 2017.

As Ripple has climbed, so too has the overall cryptocurrency market, with the total market cap surpassing $713 billion just a day after it climbed past $667 billion.

On the day's trading, 15 of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap are in the green, with ethereum classic, Qtum, EOS, iota and bitcoin offshoot litecoin being the notable exceptions.