A significant event occurred in the crypto market. Ripple-affiliated cryptocurrency XRP has managed to overtake Ether (ETH) in valuation, but this only applies to their fully diluted market caps. This flipping comes amid bullish developments in the XRP ecosystem, while the Ethereum network deals with stiff competition from rivals such as Solana. XRP Surpasses Ethereum In FDV According to CoinGecko, Ethereum ranks as the second-biggest crypto, boasting a market capitalization of $231.2 billion. This is considerably bigger than XRP’s market cap of $135.7 billion. However, there seems to be a reversal of fortunes for these two top cryptocurrencies. As of press time, XRP’s fully diluted valuation stood at $234 billion. Despite the higher market cap, Ether’s FDV is lower at $232 billion. The FDV is a metric that measures the cumulative value of all existing tokens by current market price, whilst market cap only considers the tokens already in circulation. Simply put, this suggests that if all XRP tokens were in circulation, including those currently locked in Ripple’s escrow accounts, the token’s market capitalization would have usurped Ether’s. Notably, all the Ethereum tokens are already in circulation. Whether or not this FDV flipping translates into an actual market cap shift remains to be seen. At Ether’s current price of $1,923, XRP will close the market cap gap between the two assets and overthrow ETH’s reign as the second largest crypto if its price hits $4 — a roughly 67% increase from its current price of $2.35. XRP surpassed Tether’s USDT to become the industry’s third largest crypto earlier in January. If the Ripple-promoted token topples Ether, it would signal a monumental shift in the cryptosphere. All Eyes On XRP The recent XRP optimism has been fueled by Franklin Templeton’s spot XRP ETF filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The $1.5 trillion investment giant has joined other asset managers, including Bitwise, 21Shares, and WisdomTree in the race to introduce such an XRP fund in the U.S. market. Recent reports have revealed that the protracted legal spat between Ripple and the SEC is finally wrapping up. The blockchain payments firm is apparently negotiating more favorable terms after being slapped with a $125 million fine and injunction last year. Meanwhile, the SEC reportedly considers XRP a commodity rather than an unregistered security.
