Ripple: cryptocurrency enjoys end-of-year surge – but will it endure?

The market value of Ripple, also known as XRP, rose more than 50% on Friday, to a record $85bn. Ripple continued to climb over the weekend, peaking at over $100bn, and now surpasses Ethereum ($72bn) as the second most valuable cryptocurrency after bitcoin ($237bn).

Friday’s sharp run-up puts the currency on track to have risen in value by more than 35,000% over the course of 2017. It began the year trading at around $0.006 and now sits at $2.25, according to coinmarketcap.com. Just three weeks ago, the currency was trading at 25¢.