XRP (XRP -5.14%) has been one of the market's hottest cryptocurrencies recently, and its token price is up roughly 44% year to date as of this writing. The token has a market capitalization of roughly $170 billion, and it ranks as the third-largest cryptocurrency by valuation.
XRP's valuation surge this year has been driven by favorable political developments and bullish momentum for the broader crypto market, While the cryptocurrency's token price has seen some huge fluctuations over the last half-decade, its rally over the last year has meant that investors who took a buy-and-hold position in the token five years ago have seen stellar returns.
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A $1,000 investment in XRP five years ago would now be worth $10,000
As of this writing, XRP is up more than 915% over the last five years. That means that a $1,000 investment in the crypto token five years ago would now be worth more than $10,000. Most of those gains have arrived within the last year.
XRP has surged more than 500% over the last 12 months of trading, with huge gains driven by President Donald Trump's election win, subsequent favorable political and regulatory developments, and a surge of bullish momentum for the crypto market at large. XRP's valuation had been under pressure in previous years due to a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Ripple (the company that founded the token) for allegedly offering the token as a security.
While some key issues in the SEC's legal case involving Ripple and the XRP token still need to be resolved, President Trump's appointment of Paul Atkins as the new head of the regulatory agency and signs of support for the token have helped power gains for the cryptocurrency. Along with a generally bullish backdrop for the crypto market this year, political and regulatory support has spurred huge gains for XRP.
