Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and others: Cryptocurrencies to watch this week

Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, is on the cusp of a historic milestone: $100,000. Last week, it came close, reaching an all-time high of $99,645 before retreating slightly. As of now, Bitcoin is trading around $98,000, maintaining a strong position despite the minor pullback.

Crypto enthusiasts worldwide are eagerly watching, hopeful that Bitcoin will soon shatter the $100,000 barrier—a market milestone that would further cement its status in financial history.

The cryptocurrency has shown impressive momentum, gaining over 8% in the past week and continuing its upward trajectory.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has experienced remarkable growth over the past week, driven in part by significant investor interest in spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs). On November 22, these ETFs recorded a net inflow of $91 million, underscoring the rising demand for exposure to Ether in the investment community. This growth highlights a renewed optimism in the market, with institutional and retail investors alike fueling the rally.

Ether’s strong performance not only reflects broader confidence in the cryptocurrency market but also signals growing interest in Ethereum’s ecosystem and its pivotal role in decentralized applications and smart contracts.

As of now, Ether is trading at $3,489, marking an impressive weekly gain of over 13%.

XRP is the native token of the XRP Ledger, an open-source blockchain. It is used by the Ripple payment network to facilitate cross-border transactions and is designed to act as a bridge currency. It’s important to note that Ripple, the company, operates the network but does not own XRP.

Earlier this month, trading platform Robinhood added XRP to its offerings—a promising development for the token’s accessibility and liquidity. This renewed interest from exchanges is expected to draw more investors and traders to XRP.

Currently, XRP is trading at $7.3, with over 27% gain in the past week.

The Stellar network, renowned for its efficient and cost-effective blockchain solutions, has earned the trust of major financial institutions globally. Earlier this year, a leader in digital asset infrastructure, Switzerland-based Taurus, announced its integration with the Stellar network, expanding its presence in the asset tokenization market.

Currently, Stellar (XLM) is trading at $0.50, reflecting an impressive 116% gain in a week.

Ethereum is home to thousands of decentralized applications. Due to its high demand, the Ethereum blockchain network sometimes becomes slow. To cope with this issue, the Polygon blockchain network was built on the Ethereum blockchain to enhance and scale Ethereum-based decentralized applications. It runs parallel to the main Ethereum blockchain.

In the past week, Polygon has gained nearly 42%, trading at $0.59.