Crypto Today: Bitcoin extends corrective slide, Ripple advances to fresh record highs

The BTC/USD pair, which came within a touching distance of the $20K mark earlier this month, continued to retrace its gains as investors are looking to cash in their earning before the end of the year. The pair tested the $15K handle during the day and was last seen trading at $15,512.60, losing 4.43% on the day, according to the latest available data on coinmarketcap.com. Furthermore, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash both remained under pressure on the day amid year-end flows.

Meanwhile, Ripple gained traction on Wednesday and reached a fresh all-time high at $1.37 in the late NA session, gaining over 25% on the day. Tokyo-based financial services company SBI Holdings and its subsidiary SBI Ripple Asia today announced that they were on the verge of reaching a deal with some credit card companies in Japan to utilize the blockchain technology, according to an official statement. 

Speaking on CNBC's Squawk Alley, "one of the things we all have to remember is the value of a token over the long term is really going to be driven by its utility. There's no question there's a lot of hype in this system," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse explained.

Following today's upsurge, Ripple's market dominance rose to $54 billion, surpassing Bitcoin Cash and becoming the third largest cryptocurrency in terms of trading volume behind Bitcoin and Ether. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies eased below the $600 billion mark today and was $590 billion as of writing.