Skip to main content

Ripple’s XRP saw the strongest growth of any cryptocurrency in 2017

A render of virtual currency.
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The cryptocurrency Ripple surged on the final Friday of 2017, reaching a market cap of more than $86 billion, CNBC reports. Ripple, which is officially known as XRP, saw its value rise by 55.9 percent. At its peak, the currency was valued at $2.23 a coin. Since then, it has fallen to $2.17, but it is still the second most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, according to Coinmarketcap.com.

Ethereum is currently the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market share, at over $69 billion. In the early hours of Friday morning, the two cryptocurrencies vied for the second place in a bout of intense trading. Over the weekend, however, the market seems to have stabilized with Ripple in second place. In fact, Reuters reports that XRP saw the largest growth of any cryptocurrency in 2017. The currency’s value soared by 35,000 percent during 2017.

Recommended Videos

Bitcoin remains firmly entrenched as the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market cap and price-per-coin, but there are plenty of alternatives. Ripple is one of the more interesting of the bitcoin alternatives, due to the fact that it is not just a currency, but a payment network and distributed exchange. These qualities make it easier for users to trade Ripple for other currencies such as the dollar or bitcoin.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Ripple actually began as a blockchain-based payment network for banks and other organizations. The coin offers a four-second settlement time compared to the two minutes for Ethereum or over an hour for bitcoin settlements. Currently, more than 100 banks use Ripple’s payment network and more may join soon.

Ripple’s unique qualities mean it has attracted the attention of many wealthy investors including Google Ventures though the majority of the coins are owned by the startup’s founders.

The cryptocurrency market has been extremely volatile lately with bitcoin, in particular, rising and falling in value at a rapid rate. Ripple appears to be on the upswing, however. Of course, this market has proven itself to be rather unpredictable, so tomorrow could see a new shift in the market though, bitcoin will likely remain on top for the foreseeable future.

Update: Updated to reflect the news that XRP saw the largest growth of any cryptocurrency of 2017. 

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
AMD may have a solution for your VRAM hungry games
Gigabyte's RX 9070 XT GPU.

Following a rocky road to AMD's RX 9000 series GPU launch, rumors circulating on the Chiphell forums suggest that AMD is planning to release a Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card variant equipped with 32GB of GDDR6 memory. If true, this would make it one of the most VRAM-heavy GPUs in AMD’s next-generation lineup, catering to both gamers and AI enthusiasts who require large memory capacities. Reports indicate that this variant could launch by the second quarter of 2025, although AMD has yet to confirm any official details.

The standard RX 9070 XT is expected to feature 16GB of GDDR6 memory, which aligns with previous AMD GPUs in the high-end gaming segment. As pointed out by Techpowerup, to reach the rumored 32GB capacity, AMD would need to use 16 memory modules, each with a 2GB capacity, since there are no GDDR6 memory modules offering higher capacity.

Read more
Windows 11’s February 2025 update fixes annoying bugs
Windows 11 logo on a laptop.

Microsoft's February 2025 cumulative update brings much-needed relief to Windows 11 users, fixing Auto HDR issues that caused game crashes, audio output disruptions, and USB webcam detection problems, as reported by Bleeping Computer. The patch, KB5051987 for Windows 11 24H2 users and KB5051989 for 23H2 addresses these irritating bugs and is mandatory.

The update fixes the Auto HDR problem that interfered with the colors and caused game crashes, improving the gaming experience. Furthermore, the update fixes a bug that cut off audio output, especially if you were using a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), though others were affected. Moreover, a rare issue displayed a "This device cannot start" message, but you may not have seen that one.

Read more
Trump Administration wants the US to produce the ‘most powerful’ AI chips
You can see JD Vance's eyeliner from here.

JD Vance took to the stage at the Paris AI Action Summit on Wednesday declaring that, "the United States of America is the leader in AI and our administration plans to keep it that way."

"The US possesses all components across the full AI stack, including advanced semiconductor design, frontier algorithms, and, of course, transformational applications,” Vance said. “Now the computing power this stack requires is integral to advancing AI technology, and to safeguard America’s advantage, the Trump administration will ensure the most powerful AI systems are built in the U.S. with American-designed and manufactured chips.”

Read more