Although the opinions on Ripple and their XRP asset may still be somewhat divided right now, it is evident this particular project is doing something right. Over the past few weeks, we have seen the XRP price rise to $0.70 and last night to more than $1. No one expects to see the XRP price hit such highs this year, but it is evident no project should be ignored in the world of cryptocurrency and digital assets.

XRP Price is Setting new Records

As the year 2017 is almost coming to a close, we will see some more fireworks in the cryptocurrency industry moving forward. Whereas the Bitcoin price is no longer breaking records right now, most altcoins are appreciating in value over the past few weeks. One of those altcoins – even though it is not a cryptocurrency –  is Ripple’s XRP. More specifically, the XRP price has increased all the way from $0.25 a few months ago to just over $1 last night.

While some industry experts had expected the XRP price to rise to $2 in 2018 or later, very few people thought $1 was possible. Especially when considering how the XRP price has hovered near the $0.006 mark until March of this year. It has been an extremely bullish year for XRP holders, even though many people still dismiss this asset as a bankers’ coin. That may very well be true, but it doesn’t make Ripple’s asset any less valuable compared to normal cryptocurrencies.

Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the XRP price rise from $0.725 all the way to $1.02 without too much opposition. Granted, there has been some profit taking at the $0.85, $0.92, and $0.95 levels, but nothing has been able to keep the XRP price down for more than a few minutes. Whether or not XRP can maintain this momentum above the $1 threshold, is very difficult to predict right now. Anything is possible in the world of cryptocurrency, even with Bitcoin falling short pretty much every day.

Thanks to a strong trading volume of over $2.3bn, the demand for XRP has certainly been solidified. Looking at the charts, it seems more and more people are interested in buying XRP compared to selling it, which means there may be even more bullish momentum yet to come. The lockup of 55bn XRP by the Ripple team has done wonders for the value of this digital asset, that much is rather evident.

Unsurprisingly, Bithumb is the primary catalyst for this XRP price change. In South Korea, XRP is valued at $1.17, which means the rest of the world still has plenty of catching up to do in the coming hours. Whether or not we will see any western exchanges reach the $1 price for XRP later today, remains to be seen. Right now, none of them are even close to doing so, as the highest value is recorded on Bitfinex at $0.94. This will be a pretty interesting situation to keep an eye on moving forward, to say the very least.

All things considered, it seems the best is yet to come for all cryptocurrencies in 2017. While the Bitcoin momentum has seemingly run out, the altcoins and digital assets which effectively bring something useful to the table are surging in value. Bitcoin Cash has had a good run, the XRP price is moving up, and Monero set a new all-time high yesterday as well. This is not the last big run we will see in the cryptocurrency world this year, although it is evident Bitcoin may not be the currency to watch in this regard.