Ripple's Rise and Alternative Layer-1s

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The past week in the crypto market has caused a “Ripple” of excitement. With Ripple's case against the SEC being a win, XRP experienced an impressive jump forward of approximately 65%. This surge not only gave some pump to the XRP community, but also brought many other cryptos along for the ride.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among these, one coin stood out: SOL (Solana). But before we delve into that, let's discuss the relative performance of the king coins.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bitcoin (BTC) remained relatively choppy or even slightly down for most of the week. However, with the news surrounding Ripple, it managed to crack above the 31k mark and finish the 7-day period in the green, a gain of around 3%. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ether (ETH) started the week with a slow performance but eventually gained around 7% in the past seven days, thanks to the Rippl-ing of the tide. Ethereum witnessed notable developments in its ecosystem, a milestone was reached as approximately 20% of all ETH tokens are now staked. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Ethereum development studio, launched the alpha mainnet of its new zkEVM L2 network called Linea. During the testnet phase, Linea attracted an estimated 5.2 million unique wallets over three months, proving its potential. What makes Linea particularly intriguing is Consensys's crypto wallet, MetaMask, which has around 30 million active users. If even a fraction of these users embrace Linea, it could bring a substantial influx of new users to the Layer-2 space. Additionally, Linea's success may provide insights into what we can expect from Coinbase's highly anticipated Base L2 network.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Coinbase, currently tangled in a legal case with the SEC, is still pushing forward with its Base L2 network, aiming to launch it on the mainnet soon. With around 9 million active users and 100 million registered users, Coinbase has the potential to introduce a significant user base to the world of Layer-2 solutions, further driving adoption and innovation.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While XRP stole the spotlight this week, alternative Layer-1s put on quite a sideshow. Despite being on the SEC's "naughty list" of unregistered securities, some of these altcoins experienced substantial gains in the past seven days:</span></p> <p> </p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Solana (SOL) jumped 31%</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cardano (ADA) jumped 23%</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Polygon (MATIC) jumped 25%</span></li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The positive news is that several of these coins, including SOL and MATIC, still have relatively low market caps compared to BTC and ETH. This characteristic implies a potentially higher upside, making these altcoins worth keeping a close eye on as the market continues to evolve.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In summary, the recent events surrounding Ripple, combined with the remarkable performances of alternative Layer-1s, have made this week a memorable one in the crypto space. As the market landscape continues to shift, staying informed and vigilant will be key to navigating the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.</span></p> <p><br><br></p>