The cryptocurrency market has been experiencing high volatility in recent weeks, with some altcoins like Ripple and Ethereum seen outperforming the dominant Bitcoin (BTC). In this article, we will take a look at three altcoins that have been notable on the cryptocurrency market: Ripple (XRP) and Ethereum. Meanwhile Bitgert is betting on innovations and technology to get their place on the cryptocurrency market.
Ripple (XRP): The Legal Battle Between Ripple & SEC Continues
XRP, the native token of the Ripple network, has been one of the best-performing altcoins in the past month. Ripple’s price has surged by over 70% since November 20. The price rally of the token was particularly driven by several factors, including positive developments in the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accuses the company of selling unregistered securities.
On December 6, Ripple filed a motion to compel the SEC to produce documents related to its internal communications about Bitcoin and Ethereum, which the regulator considers as non-securities. Ripple argued that XRP should be treated similarly, as Ripple is also a decentralized cryptocurrency that serves as a medium of exchange.
On December 14, the court granted Ripple's motion in part, ordering the SEC to produce some of the requested documents by January 14, 2022. The court also denied the SEC's motion to strike Ripple's fair notice defense, which claims that the agency failed to provide clear guidance on the legal status of XRP before filing the lawsuit.
The legal victory boosted the confidence of Ripple XRP holders, who are hoping for a favorable outcome or a settlement that would clear the regulatory uncertainty around the Ripple (XRP) token. Ripple is currently trading at $0.779183 USD, with a market cap of $40.9 billion, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. XRP has surpassed the trading volumes of BTC on a majority of exchanges ever since the court ruling against SEC fell in its favor.
Ethereum's Transition to Proof-of-Stake
Alongside Ripple, Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has also been on an upward trend in the past month. Ethereum has witnessed a gain of over 15% since June 20. The main catalyst for Ethereum's growth was the successful merge of the Beacon Chain with the mainnet on July 14, which marked the final phase of Ethereum 2.0. It was a major upgrade that transitioned the Ethereum network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS).
The Ethereum merge integrated the Beacon Chain with the mainnet and ended PoW mining on the Ethereum network. Ethereum has introduced a new consensus mechanism called PoS, which allows users to stake their Ether (ETH) tokens and become validators who secure and validate transactions on the network. PoS is expected to improve Ethereum's scalability, security, and energy efficiency.
According to data from Beaconcha.in, there are currently over 10 million ETH staked on Ethereum 2.0, worth over $19 billion at current prices. The annual percentage yield (APY) for staking ETH is around 6%, depending on the number of validators and the network participation rate. Ethereum is currently trading at $1,557.42, with a market cap of $227.58 billion. The next milestone for Ethereum 2.0 is the launch of sharding, which will split the network into multiple parallel chains that can process transactions faster and cheaper. Ethereum has planned to begin sharding in 2024.
Bitgert: Newcomer with Ambitions
Bitgert (BRISE) is a crypto engineering project that launched in July 2021. Bitgert specializes in blockchain products and centralized exchange. Bitgert offers small gas fees and high-speed cross-chain transactions through its own blockchain called Bitgert BRC20, which supports up to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) according to the project's website.
Bitgert also offers a range of products and services, such as Bitgert Exchange, Bitgert Paybrise, Bitgert Real Estate Marketplace, Bitgert Decentralized Marketplace, Bitgert (BRISE) Staking, and BRISE Swap. Bitgert aims to become a payment system and provide peer-to-peer (P2P) services through its dApp wallet in numerous countries. With a varied range of offerings, the Bitgert team has been setting its foot on new innovations every day to build the Bitgert Ecosystem.
BRISE is Bitgert's native token, which allows investors to benefit from staking and earning rewards in BUSD on the BSC network only. Bitgert (BRISE) also features a buyback mechanism that directs 5% of every transaction fee for buybacks, 3% for marketing, and 4% for staking rewards. Bitgert aims to make BRISE a deflationary asset. BRISE is currently trading at $2.56e-7, with a market cap of $10,12,32,302 USD.
Conclusion
Ripple and Ethereum are altcoins that have been making headlines in the crypto space for different reasons. Ripple and Ethereum are well-known and widely adopted projects that are undergoing significant changes. Bitgert on the other hand is a newcomer that aims to settle themselves in the existing industry and build an ecosystem.