XRP Beats BNB, Becomes 4th Largest Crypto of World After 22% Rise

A massive surge in the past week made XRP overtake Binance coin (BNB) as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

As the cryptocurrency industry matures, the open market continues to pick the biggest winners, a shift often reflected by a change in the rankings of the top assets by market capitalization. In one such rare change, the price of XRP overtakes Binance coin (BNB) as the fourth largest cryptocurrency.

According to CoinMarketCap data, BNB boasts a market cap of $37.1 billion, with XRP now above BNB with $37.2 billion. It is noteworthy that XRP bridged the gap between its market cap and BNB’s in the past week with a substantial 22% rise.

Over the same period, BNB only gained 7%, having struggled to keep up with the rest of the market since a bullish wave returned in October. BNB is trading at $244 at the time of writing, representing a 0.12% decline in the past 24 hours. In contrast, XRP has risen by 10% and has both technical and fundamental indicators in its favor to experience further growth.

A Tale of Differing Fortunes

XRP’s race to overtake BNB as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency tells a tale of differing fortunes. Precisely, the surge in XRP prices has largely been attributed to Ripple enjoying multiple victories in its legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The courts have ruled in Ripple’s favor twice, determining that XRP is not a security when sold on a secondary market and denying the SEC’s bid to appeal that major decision. Evidently, that pair of losses prompted the regulatory body to withdraw its pending cases against Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. It has also increased investor belief that a settlement is on the horizon.

However, Binance has had little headway in its legal issues with the SEC. Recall that in June, the SEC sued Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, for securities law violations. The move, which caused the price of BNB to drop significantly, has also impeded its growth even with a broader crypto market recovery. 

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BNB is still down 1% on the year-to-date (YTD) chart compared to XRP, which has more than doubled its price since January. XRP opened the year trading at $0.33 but sits around $0.681 at press time.