Ripple's XRP surged to a historic all-time high of $3.55 on July 17, marking its first breach above the 2018 peak with a 36% weekly gain and 13% 24-hour rally. This milestone occurred during a broad altcoin resurgence, with Ethereum (ETH) climbing 21% weekly and Solana (SOL) rising 8% over the same period.
The breakthrough follows Ripple Labs' expanded institutional footprint, securing partnerships with hundreds of global banks adopting the XRP Ledger for cross-border payments and real-world asset tokenization. Additionally, Ripple's USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD reached $517 million in market value within eight months of launch. A major regulatory overhang lifted as Ripple and the SEC dropped all appeals in their longstanding legal battle, positioning XRP favorably for compliance-focused institutions.
Concurrently, Dogecoin (DOGE) broke above $0.20 for the first time in six weeks, while Cardano (ADA) posted 8% daily gains. Altcoin dominance intensified as Bitcoin's market share fell from 65% to 61.5%, with 77 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies gaining value. The collective altcoin market cap surged 47% to $1.44 trillion in 90 days, signaling a potential market reordering.
Analysts attribute the momentum to growing blockchain infrastructure adoption and renewed institutional confidence. XRP now ranks third in market capitalization at $205 billion, trailing only Bitcoin and Ethereum, with speculation mounting about a potential spot XRP ETF catalyzing further demand.