XRP Price Prediction: Will the Market Capitalization of XRP Reach $150 Billion?

XRP traded at $2.43 today with a market capitalization of $142 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $3.754 billion.

RALLY CONTINUES AS BITCOIN REJECTED AT KEY LEVEL

The price of Bitcoin dropped on Wednesday, sliding back below the $70,000 threshold that had sparked a wave of optimism in the crypto market this week.

At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $69,200, down 2% over the last 24 hours. The apex coin had risen as high as $70,800 earlier in the day, but struggled to sustain this rally.

This move came after a report from Glassnode showed that Bitcoin’s hashrate had reached a new all-time high of 448 PH/s. Hashrate is a measure of the computing power used to mine new coins, and higher levels usually indicate that the network is becoming more secure and that there is strong interest in mining activity.

"Bitcoin miners are showing no signs of slowing down, with the hashrate setting a new all-time high this week," the on-chain analytics firm said in an email on Wednesday.

"This is likely due to the recent rally in the price of Bitcoin, which has made mining more profitable."

The decline in the price of Bitcoin came despite a report from Moody’s that said that it had no plans to downgrade U.S. banks due to recent stress in the banking sector.

This threat had sparked fears that legal and regulatory risks for crypto firms could increase if the credit rating agency downgraded the Union Bank, which Moody’s placed on review for downgrade last week.

But in a statement on Wednesday, Moody’s said that it was keeping a stable outlook on the U.S. banking sector, and that it had no plans to downgrade the banks.

"We view the operating environment for U.S. banks as fundamentally sound, supported by the strong U.S. economic recovery and healthy consumer and business lending activity," Moody’s said.

"While we are mindful of the recent bank failures and the implications for the industry, we view the issues that led to the failures as largely idiosyncratic."

The threat of legal and regulatory risks has weighed heavily on the crypto market in recent months, with several leading crypto firms shutting down or laying off staff as they attempt to batten down the hatches.

But the threat of a Moody’s downgrade to a U.S. bank had sparked panic among crypto traders, who fear that a move by the rating agency could herald a broader crackdown on the industry.

This fear was heightened by a report last week from the Federal Reserve, which showed that the U.S. economy grew faster than previously thought in the first quarter of 2023.

The report showed that the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annualized rate of 1.3% in the January-March period, compared with a previous estimate of 1%. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the reading to remain unchanged.

The report also showed that consumer spending grew more slowly than expected in the first quarter, rising at an annualized rate of 1% after a 2.7% increase in the fourth quarter. Economists had expected consumer spending to rise at an annualized rate of 2.5%.

The slow growth in consumer spending could lead the Fed to slow the pace of interest rate rises, which traders will be keeping a close eye on at Thursday’s meeting of the central bank.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points at the meeting, which would take the target range for the federal funds rate to 5.0% to 5.25%.

Traders will also be looking out for any clues on when the Fed might finally pause the cycle of interest rate rises, which began in March 2022.

The central bank has already raised interest rates by 4.75% since the start of last year, in an attempt to cool the U.S. economy and bring inflation down towards its 2% target.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.2% in May from a year earlier, while the core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, climbed by 4.8%.

This suggests that inflation is slowing, but it remains well above the Fed’s target range.

The threat of legal and regulatory risks and the prospect of slower economic growth in the U.S. could weigh on the price of Bitcoin later in the week.