XRP Search Interest Explodes Beyond BTC’s as Price Hits 7-Year High

The native token of the XRP Ledger has seen a massive price surge this this year, now trading above the $3 mark for the first time in seven years. The surge has brought renewed interest from retail investors, but there’s still a long way to reach its all-time high.

That renewed interest is being reflected on Google Trends, which shows that search interest for XRP is now above that of the flagship cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC), despite the launch of spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) roughly a year ago.

The rise comes after the price of XRP moved up more than 45% over the past week to now trade at $3.28 per token, giving it a total market capitalization of nearly $190 billion. Bitcoin is meanwhile hovering around the $100,000 mark after moving up 8.4% over the same period.

The cryptocurrency has notably outperformed the wider cryptocurrency market over the last few weeks, moving to a high it hadn’t seen since 2018 amid an explosive retail trading trend, and at a time that saw it near $4 over a growing Kimchi Premium, which refers to a price premium seen on South Korean cryptocurrency trading platforms.

XRP Price Surges on Crypto-Friendly Expectations

The bullish sentiment surrounding the token appears to stem from several factors, which include a recent JPMorgan report suggesting that a spot XRP exchange-traded fund could attract billions of dollars from investors, and expectations of a more cryptocurrency-friendly regulatory environment under the incoming Trump administration.

That cryptocurrency-friendly regulatory environment could lead the establishment of a proposed strategic Bitcoin reserve – which would further legitimize the digital asset space as a whole – and boost the potential for the approval of such a spot XRP ETF.

Several firms have already filed to list spot XRP ETFs in the United States, including 21Shares, Bitwise, Canary Capital, and WisdomTree. Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse has revealed he believes the launch of such a fund is “inevitable.”