Crypto Today: Bitcoin stays quiet near $15K, Ripple climbs above $3

BTC/USD fluctuates in a tight range near $15K.
Ripple extends rally to a new all-time high above $3.
Total market cap surpasses $700 billion.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Bitcoin struggled to find any interest from investors on Wednesday and remained stuck in a narrow trading band near the $15K mark. As of writing, the BTC/USD pair was trading at $14,974.30, losing 0.57% on the day. Bitcoin's market dominance dropped to an all-time low of 34.9% with a total cap of $251 billion.

Meanwhile, Ripple, which gained a lot of popularity toward the end of the year, extended its rally and advanced to yet another record high at $3.27 as it continued to find demand as a currency that will be used more widely among institutions. According to the latest available data on coinmarketcap.com, XRP was trading at $3.21, gaining 34.33% on the day. In the last week alone, Ripple rose more than 160%.

On Wednesday, "Ripple has been conducting trials with a number of financial institutions, including American Express and Santander. Its price was also helped by news in December that Japan's SBI Holdings and SBI Ripple Asia, which was formed as a partnership between the two firms in 2016, created a consortium with Japanese credit card companies to utilize blockchain," CNBC reported.

After surpassing Ethereum in terms of total market capitalization, Ripple's market dominance continued to increase. As of writing, Ripple is the second biggest cryptocurrency with a total volume of $126 billion and a market dominance of 16.7%.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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