Name: XRP jumps 20% in a week as traders rotate beyond bitcoin and ether
Uploaded: 2026-01-07T03:36:28.630Z
Duration: 3 min 43 s
Description: CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos reports on why XRP is leading crypto’s early-2026 rally, with investors treating it as a targeted alternative to bitcoin and ether — drawn by its cross-border payments pitch and steady inflows that held up even through the Q4 dip.

CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos reports on why XRP is leading crypto’s early-2026 rally, with investors treating it as a targeted alternative to bitcoin and ether — drawn by its cross-border payments pitch and steady inflows that held up even through the Q4 dip.

San Francisco

XRP, the cryptocurrency associated with Ripple, has experienced a 20% increase in value over the past week, overtaking Binance's BNB to become the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. This rise comes as traders seek alternatives to bitcoin and ether, especially following regulatory clarity after Ripple's legal resolution with the SEC in August.

Despite a general pullback in the broader crypto market, XRP has continued to attract investment, with funds focused on the token seeing inflows even as bitcoin ETF flows declined. The token's primary use case is facilitating cross-border payments for financial institutions, though the widespread adoption of such blockchain solutions remains uncertain due to ongoing regulatory and infrastructure discussions among global financial bodies.

XRP jumps 20% in a week as traders rotate beyond bitcoin and ether

Welcome. Thank you. What's the deal with XRP? The breakout trade of the 2026 crypto rally isn't Bitcoin or Ether. It is XRP. Now, the token tied to Ripple is up more than 20 percent over the past week, pushing past Binance's BNB coin to become the third largest cryptocurrency by market value. And even with the broader crypto complex pulling back today, XRP has been the quiet outperformer for months now. The use case here is payments, specifically cross-border settlement. Ripple designed XRP as a bridge asset. When a bank or payments provider needs to move value from dollars to yen, XRP can sit in the middle and help settle that transfer in seconds instead of days. Now, it's aimed at financial institutions and payment rails, which is a very different pitch from Bitcoin's digital gold narrative. And unlike stablecoins, which are basically tokenized dollars, XRP is trying to be the exchange layer that moves value between currencies. So money's moving into XRP for three big reasons. First, the regulatory overhang has finally cleared. Ripple has fully wrapped up its SEC fight as of August. Second, it's a less crowded trade than Bitcoin or Ether. And third, the flows have held up even during the Q4 dip. Investors kept adding to XRP focused funds while Bitcoin ETF flows fell with the price. How do you think the declines in Bitcoin and Ethereum fit into this? And specifically, you know, these are two coins that have been wrapped up in digital asset treasury companies. And so there's this whole concern that there's going to be forced selling. So there's sort of that dynamic hanging over, you know, just the decline in those assets in particular. And so maybe it's not surprising that investors are seeking an alternative within the crypto space. Precisely. And nine days from now, the MSCI is going to decide whether names like Strategy can remain as part of the index. You might see other force selling as part of that. And then you've got XRP where there's just a lot more upside. And yes, they're coming from a lower base. But that's part of why when you saw the spot Bitcoin ETF selling off in Q4 and all these net outflows, XRP accumulation was quietly gaining momentum. I like the narrative on XRP, but I'm questioning the timing. To have banks doing cross-border payments and settlements with the blockchain, to me, still feels like quite a ways away. I mean, right now, there's a lot of talks at the Bank for International Settlements and other multinational institutions about how do we have interoperability? How do we make this work? They haven't even figured out what the rails look like, what the rules of the road look like. Europe and the U.S. don't agree. God knows what China wants to do. So are you buying it now, knowing that, again, I feel like broken record here with my copper comment, it's going to go down and up a lot before. This is not a straight line at all. I feel like it's more of a hedge against the decision coming from MSCI. I think that's part of it, certainly. They want to be the swift of the international banking system. But at the same time, we're waiting for, to your point, rules of the road. And so the crypto market infrastructure bill, which we've been talking about for a full year now, is still in the markup stage in the Senate. But that is what a lot of pent up demand is meant to come from. When that is passed, it will open up the doors to what Wall Street can do with respect to customizing these coins. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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