Ripple’s XRP has flipped BNB to become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. XRP’s market cap reached $99 billion on Friday, its highest in over three years. 

XRP is seeing strong bullish momentum, as the altcoin surged by more than 230% in November. 

Is XRP Price On-Route For a Historic Comeback?

Despite being one of the largest altcoins in the market, XRP has mostly underperformed in every bull market throughout the past three years. Ripple’s lengthy legal battle with the SEC has significantly impacted the altcoin’s market activity. 

However, long-term holders of the token are finally seeing a potential reward. Donald Trump’s re-election and his promise for regulatory clarity have generated notable institutional interest in the token.

The current SEC chair, Gary Gensler, has been a constant throne at the sight of Ripple. However, his resignation earlier this month generated optimism that Ripple could finally be out of the SEC’s crosshairs.  

This optimism has been reflected in the recent actions of major institutional investors. Last week, WisdomTree, one of the largest global asset managers, filed for an XRP ETF in Delaware. This was the third ETF application for XRP, as Bitwise and Canary Capital joined the race in October.

“Ripple is gearing up for major upgrades to the XRP Ledger, designed to enhance liquidity and draw in institutional investors. This increase in activity could direct hundreds of millions into XRPL tokens, especially in the DeFi sector.” influencer Brett wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 

If approved, an XRP ETF would attract more institutional funds to the altcoin and potentially drive its market demand. The same trend happened for BTC, as the approval of Bitcoin ETFs saw soaring institutional demand for the cryptocurrency. 

Most importantly, Trump’s administration will likely provide an optimal regulatory backdrop for cryptocurrencies in 2025. The president-elect has reportedly considered cutting the capital gains tax for all US-based cryptocurrencies, including XRP. 

It’s also important to note that Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, has actively donated to Trump’s campaign. Furthermore, he recently donated $25 million to the 2026 US midterms, even before Trump’s administration begins in January.

So, we will likely see a very pro-XRP regulatory scene in the US, which will potentially drive the altcoins demand. 

Polkadot 2.0, the latest upgrade to the Polkadot network, will launch in Q1 2025. An early testnet version of the blockchain is already available on the Kusama network. 

The launch period was confirmed earlier today by Parity Technologies, the developers behind Polkadot. 

Polkadot 2.0 Will Introduce Much-Needed Scalability to the Blockchain 

Polkadot 2.0 represents a significant upgrade of the Polkadot network, introducing technical advancements to enhance scalability, flexibility, and accessibility for developers. 

According to Parity Technologies, the upgrade will have three key features – Async Backing, Agile Coretime, and Elastic Scaling.

The first two features have been successfully implemented in the network. The team is currently working on Elastic Scaling ahead of its Q1 2025 launch. 

“Last part of Polkadot 2.0 is Elastic Scaling. Projects will be able to add multiple Cores for one task, shorten block production time or add on-demand Cores if they have throughput problems,” Polkadot executive Emil Kietzman wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

These features will reduce the block time from 12 seconds to 6 seconds, increasing transaction throughput. DApps and other projects on Polkadot 2.0 will be able to access network resources on-demand, moving away from the traditional parachain slot auction model.

Most importantly, Elastic Scaling will allow the network to scale dynamically as needed. These enhancements on Polkadot 2.0 could potentially lower developers’ entry barriers. 

DOT has seen a significant rally in November, surging over 100%. The network’s high staking returns have attracted new users in 2024. According to an earlier CoinGecko report, Polkadot is among the top three blockchains that provide the highest staking yields. 

Furthermore, the network’s interoperability has received wider praise from developer communities. Another report earlier this year named Polkadot as one of the leading blockchains in development and community engagement. 

Despite these recognitions, the network has suffered extensively in the past few years due to the lack of scalability. As a result, the number of core developers on the network has gradually decreased. 

Polkadot 2.0 can potentially change this and introduce much-needed scalability and accessibility to the blockchain. A successful launch can bring more DApps to the ecosystem and drive DOT’s market prospects.