(GBTC), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) – Why XRP Is Skyrocketing As Dogecoin, Bitcoin, Others Retreat

The cryptocurrency XRP is skyrocketing, up 61.8% since Saturday at $0.4769.

What Happened: The surge in the digital asset backing the decentralized payments platform Ripple comes even as other major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) retreat.

Bitcoin traded at $33,474.92, down 1.6% over 24 hours at press time late Sunday. Ethereum traded 3.8% lower at $1,313.84.

Dogecoin (DOGE), which saw a massive surge last week as part of a coordinated effort by users of Reddit community r/SatoshiStreetBets and a boost from Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, has since retreated.

The joke cryptocurrency traded 33% higher at $0.03847 at press time, down about 50% from the all-time high of  $0.0791 hit on Friday.

Why Is XRP Surging? The surge in XRP comes as part of a similar coordinated effort to pump as was seen in Dogecoin last week.

Besides the motley calls to buy XRP on the r/SatoshiStreetBets community, a Telegram group called “Buy & Hold XRP” also cropped up on Saturday, as reported by CoinDesk.

Kenetic Capital co-founder Jehan Chu told the cryptocurrency publication that “traditional Crypto-Pump groups are being copied and legitimized by WallStreetBets-style crowd-pumps, and are now turning their burning gaze from dogecoin to XRP.”

XRP and the company behind it — Ripple Labs Inc. — have been troubled by a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over whether the cryptocurrency constitutes a security.

The company received a boost from a Wall Street Journal report last month that said President Joe Biden intended to nominate former Treasury Department official Michael Barr to head the office of the comptroller of the currency. Barr had joined Ripple as an advisor back in 2015.

Ripple also announced last month that Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Vice President of Delivery Experience Devraj Varadhan had joined its team as the senior vice president of engineering.