Ripple Currency (XRP) has overtaken Tether (USDT) to bring itself the third-largest curiosity in the list of market capitalizations among cryptocurrencies uncertainty in the future of stablecoin within Europe due to the effect of MiCA regulations.
Why Ripple Currency (XRP) is rising?
XRP stands at $2.44 with market capitalization around $140 billion, having increased by 13.1% in the last week and 1.5% during the last 24 hours, as noted by CoinGecko. The asset now trails Bitcoin and Ethereum with valuations of approximately $1.3 trillion and $427 billion each, respectively.
Ripple Currency
On the other hand, USDT has registered a 1.4% decline in market cap over the last seven days, dropped from approximately $140 billion to $137 billion. This comes amid heightened speculation regarding USDT’s future in Europe, which began taking effect this week due to the MiCA regulations.
Although MiCA aims to set one standard legal regime across all EU member states, it shows what the entire industry faces in the changing landscape of regulations. Witness how Coinbase delisted USDT from the European platform preemptively to avoid issues under MiCA, experts told The Defiant this week.
Stablecoin Wars Heat Up
Another element of consideration by experts has been the burgeoning interest in other stablecoins as a major factor in driving down USDT’s market share-in-trading volume such as those magical 67% shares.
“New yield-bearing stablecoins, such as Ethena with their delta-neutral model, or Ondo and others with their RWA-backed model, where users get yield for holding it, are nibbling at USDT’s lunch,” Danny Gazit, MD, Hype, told The Defiant.
Platforms like Coinbase also offer yield for holding USDC, and soon, tokens such as Ethena’s USDe will become trade pairs on major exchanges like Bybit, reducing demand for USDT,” he added.
“Add that to the continued secrecy of where its funds sit to keep the peg, and you have a recipe for a declining asset,” he said. “I wouldn’t say XRP is flipping it – that’s just where it is. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Solana (SOL) flip it next.”
This isn’t the first time XRP has flipped USDT in market cap – the Ripple-linked crypto overtook both the stablecoin and SOL on Dec. 1, 2024, when it climbed past $2 for the first time in almost seven years.
