Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin is up 2% over the past 24 hours and is again trading above $66,000.
- After more inflows on Thursday, U.S. spot bitcoin ETF inflows now sit at $861.5 million for the week.
- XRP has been a notable performer over the past week, up roughly 10%.
- Speculation around XRP, used by blockchain services company Ripple to facilitate transactions, has increased due to the perception there may soon be a resolution to Ripple’s case against the SEC.
- XRP also may benefit from White House leadership that is more friendly to the cryptocurrency industry.
After a slight dip Thursday, bitcoin (BTC) gained roughly 4% in Friday trading and is back above $66,000.
It was another positive day for U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Thursday, as $84.8 million flowed into these products, according to Farside Investors. This takes the week’s total inflows to $861.5 million so far.
Optimism around the approval and potential trading debut next week of spot ether ETFs is also growing, pushing ether (ETH) prices higher. Issuers of these products have unveiled their fee structure and now await a final nod from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The native token of the Ethereum blockchain was also up around 2% in Friday trading.
XRP Gains Investor Favor
Outside of the two largest crypto tokens by market cap, XRP has been performing relatively well lately, with the alternative crypto asset up nearly 10% over the week.
XRP has been performing particularly well in South Korea, where the digital asset accounted for 35% to 40% of all trading volume on three popular crypto exchanges there from Tuesday through Thursday, CoinDesk reported. Price speculation for XRP, used by blockchain technology firm Ripple to facilitate transactions, has increased ahead of a potential resolution to Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC over whether XRP is an unregistered security. Earlier this week, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Bloomberg, “We expect resolution very soon.”
In addition, as one of the projects targeted by the SEC with an enforcement action, some market observers expect XRP to benefit from a potential victory of a pro-crypto Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential elections.