Ripple Ranks as Second Biggest Cryptocurrency

A new contender just moved into second place in the race to catch bitcoin. Ripple, a cryptocurrency that first surfaced in 2013, has surged 53% in the past 24 hours to surpass ethereum and take the title of the world’s second-most valuable digital coin by market cap. Ripple’s market value rocketed to $86 billion, making ether No.3 at $73 billion. Bitcoin’s market cap is near $250 billion, Bloomberg reported. It’s the latest twist in the crypto saga known as the “flippening.” That’s what ether enthusiasts call the coin’s anticipated rise to the most valuable by market cap. Rather than catching up to bitcoin, though, ether has fallen behind other upstarts. Just last week, it looked like bitcoin cash, which first debuted in August, would spoil ether’s pursuit. That threat faded as the bitcoin-spinoff tumbled, only to be replaced, and realized, by Ripple as its 20,000% surge this year flipped the flippening on its head.