🚀 XRP Rockets Past $3, Topples Tether (USDT) to Claim #3 Crypto Spot

Ripple's XRP just pulled off a market coup—surging past the $3 barrier and booting stablecoin giant Tether from its bronze-medal position. Here's how the underdog became the talk of Crypto Twitter.

The breakout no one saw coming

While analysts were busy obsessing over Bitcoin's halving cycle, XRP quietly built momentum. The 30% single-day pump wasn't just a fluke—it was liquidity finally catching up to years of pent-up institutional demand.

Why USDT got dethroned

Tether's 'stability' became its weakness. Traders rotated out of safe-haven assets as XRP's utility narrative gained traction. Nothing stings quite like losing third place to a coin the SEC once called 'unregistered security' (irony intact).

What's next?

With Ripple's legal clouds clearing, exchanges are racing to relist. If this rally holds, we might finally get that 'flippening' everyone pretended to care about in 2021. Meanwhile, Wall Street still can't decide if crypto is 'digital gold' or 'fraud'—depending on which hedge fund manager you ask before their third martini.

Ripple Labs-backed XRP gained 5 percent in the past 24 hours to trade above $3.04 on Wednesday, July 16, during the mid-North American trading session. The large-cap altcoin, with a fully diluted valuation of about $304 billion, reached the highest level in 24 weeks, thus flipping Tether (USDT) as the third-largest crypto asset.

As a result, xrp price has regained all the losses registered after President Donald Trump took office for the second term earlier this year. According to aggregate market data from Coingecko, XRP price gained over 26 percent in the past seven days, thus outshining the majority of large-cap altcoins.

XRP Bulls Bolstered by Robust Fundamentals 

The ongoing XRP pump is largely backed by robust fundamentals both from Ripple and external factors. For instance, Ripple Labs is almost concluding the four-year lawsuit filed by the U.S. SEC, which will give XRP much-needed regulatory clarity.

The crypto payment company announced earlier on Wednesday that it partnered with Ctrl Alt and the Dubai Land Department to tokenize the country’s title deeds on the XRPL network.

The bullish sentiment for XRP has also been influenced by the procedural passage of the crypto bills on Wednesday including the GENIUS Act.

What Next?

The XRP bullish breakout above $3 in 2025 has coincided with the rising calls for an altseason. Furthermore, on-chain data analysis reveals that whale investors have been accumulating more altcoins compared to Bitcoin in the recent past.

#XRP bull flags..

We all know what comes next! pic.twitter.com/whZnm5nxbo

From a technical analysis standpoint, XRP price has successfully broken out of a bullish flag and is now on the cusp of entering its euphoric phase of the 2025 bull rally. If history repeats itself, XRP price is well set to rally beyond $10 in this cycle fueled by regulatory clarity and rising demand from institutional investors.