Crypto Climb: Why XRP Is Soaring Today

XRP prices surged once again Wednesday on a pair of bullish news items. XRP continued its roller-coaster week with a 20-percent gain in Wednesday trading.

What Happened

The big move appears to be driven by two crypto news stories.

First, Alphabet Inc GOOGLGOOG's Google is reportedly lifting its ban on cryptocurrency advertising and will begin allowing limited crypto ads starting next month.

In addition, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency broker Coinbase has said it will be adding additional coins to its platform, and new listings “will become more frequent.”

Why It’s Important

Both news items are huge for XRP, which is the third largest global cryptocurrency by market cap but generally doesn’t get as much media coverage as bitcoin or Ethereum. Allowing XRP to advertise on Google and adding it to Coinbase would likely have a major impact on the awareness of casual cryptocurrency investors and users.

Coinbase currently supports bitcoin, litecoin, ether, bitcoin cash, and ethereum classic. Considering its popularity and value, XRP will almost certainly be among the first new coins Coinbase adds to its platform.

What’s Next

Investors will be watching to see the details of Google’s new crypto advertising rules to see what (if any) restrictions it puts in place on approved currencies. In addition, traders will be watching for confirmation that Coinbase is adding XRP at some point in the near future.

Long-term investors will also be keeping a close eye on the volatile near-term price action to see if Tuesday’s big move can help XRP erase a significant part of its 74-percent year-to-date losses.

XRP had a market cap of about $21.1 billion at time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.

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