Ripple Price Passes Historic $1 Milestone

The price of Ripple's XRP token has passed a dollar for the first time in its history.

Currently the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, XRP passed the milestone just before press time, achieving an all-time high of $1.06, as per CoinMarketCap data.

The rally in XRP follows months of sideways trading for the cryptocurrency, which took an upwards turn a week ago following positive news flow for banking-focused Ripple, as well as generally surging prices among alternative coins as investors look to move money out of an overstretched and falling bitcoin.

Most recently, the company announced in late November that Standard Chartered and Axis Bank are launching a new cross-border payments platform built on top of Ripple technology. Just a week earlier, American Express said it was using Ripple's network to connect Santander clients in Europe and the U.S.

Today's price gains, though, appear to be largely driven by the markets, particularly in Asia.

Looking at CoinMarketCap data, XRP has seen trading volumes increase over the last 24 hours by nearly 25 percent at major South Korean exchange Bithumb, while Hong Kong-based Bitfinex has seen volumes rise over 10 percent.

At press time, XRP is trading at $1.05. The cryptocurrency has gained 36 percent in the last 24 hours and is up 74 percent week-on-week. Its market cap currently stands at $41 billion, also a new record high.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Ripple. 

Dollars reflected in droplets image via Shutterstock