XRP Passes USDC to Become the Fifth-Largest Crypto

XRP rose 5.3% to $1.18 on July 4, lifting its market value to about $73 billion and carrying it past the stablecoin USDC into fifth place among crypto assets ranked by that measure. The move left the token up nearly 10% on the week and at its highest level in more than a month, in trading thinned by the July 4 holiday in the United States. Alongside the price action, the analytics firm Santiment flagged two on-chain valuation readings for XRP at historic lows: a 30-day MVRV of about -45% and a 365-day MVRV of about -47%. The ranking change itself is arithmetic, and it reflects what happened on the other side of the comparison as much as what happened to XRP.

The Session: 5.3% on the Day, Nearly 10% on the Week

At $1.18, XRP traded at a level it had not reached in over a month, and the weekly gain of close to 10% accumulated in a stretch when order books were lighter than usual, so individual orders moved price further than they would in a full session. Market value came to roughly $73 billion, enough to move XRP above USDC and into the number-five slot. No catalyst in the ledger's own development track was cited alongside the move; the coverage of the day centred on positioning and on-chain gauges rather than on a protocol event.

The Gauge: What MVRV Actually Compares

MVRV sets a coin's market value against its realized value. Market value is the familiar figure: today's price multiplied by the circulating supply. Realized value prices each unit of that supply not at today's quote but at the price it last changed hands at on-chain, then sums those figures, producing an approximation of what the market collectively paid for the coins it now holds. Expressed as a percentage difference, zero means the average holder is exactly at break-even, a positive reading means the average position is in profit, and a negative reading means it is underwater. Santiment put XRP's 30-day MVRV — the same comparison restricted to coins that last moved within the past month — at about -45%, and the 365-day version at about -47%.

Both were historic lows for the token, according to Santiment. Analysts who follow the measure read deeply negative values as evidence that recent buyers are carrying large unrealized losses, which is generally taken to mean the holders most inclined to sell into any strength have already sold, leaving less supply overhanging the market. The reading describes positioning rather than demand: it says nothing about whether new buyers will arrive, only about the state of the ones already there. Nor does it set a floor, since a cohort that is underwater can stay underwater for as long as the price stays where it is.

The Ranking: Fifth Place Measured Against a Stablecoin

Passing USDC is a different event from passing a volatile token. A stablecoin's market value is essentially its supply outstanding, because each unit is designed to trade at a dollar: the figure rises when the issuer mints coins against new deposits and falls when holders redeem them. The gap between the two therefore closes when XRP's price rises, when USDC's supply shrinks, or when both happen at once. The second of those had been in play through the spring and early summer, with stablecoin supply contracting across the sector rather than expanding. A ranking swap under those conditions says as much about redemptions on one side as about a rally on the other.

What the Reading Does Not Settle

An MVRV at a historic low is a statement about the cost basis of existing holders, and its usefulness depends on an assumption that has not been tested at this depth for XRP: that exhausted sellers are followed by buyers. The ranking is similarly provisional, since a few percent in either direction on a thin day would reverse it, and stablecoin supply can be minted back as quickly as it was redeemed. What the session established is narrower than the league table: XRP cleared a month of overhead supply, and the coins bought during the decline remain, on the on-chain evidence, well below water.