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XRP surged past the $1 mark Saturday, hitting a three-year high. It has now overtaken Dogecoin (DOGE) to secure the sixth spot in the cryptocurrency rankings by market capitalization.

XRP's price has skyrocketed by over 85% since the past week, reaching a three-year high of $1.268 in Saturday's trading, the last time it had been seen Nov. 11, 2021. Favorable regulatory developments and increased whale activity appear to have contributed to the XRP price surge.

The SEC's legal battle with Ripple has had a huge impact on the cryptocurrency. However, recent events indicate that a more favorable regulatory climate may be on the horizon. A lawsuit launched on Thursday by a coalition of state attorneys general and the DeFi Education Fund against the SEC questions the regulator's authority over digital assets.

According to Santiment, XRP's price rally has come on the backs of key whale and shark wallets that hold between 1 million to 100 million tokens. This group has collectively accumulated 453.3 million more XRP worth $526.3 million in the past week alone.

Meanwhile, the coins they are amassing are primarily from retail traders attempting to dump their holdings on any minor XRP rally. Wallets with less than a million XRP have dumped 75.7 million tokens worth $87.9 million in this time frame.

Historically, any cryptocurrency experiences favorable market cap growth when its key stakeholders increase their holdings and confidence, Santiment explains that this has been the exact scenario unfolding for XRP at the moment.

XRP flips Dogecoin

XRP's rise has lifted its price above $1 and increased its market capitalization to $60.39 billion.

The price increase has moved XRP's market capitalization to sixth place, edging out Dogecoin, which is valued at $53.29 billion, into seventh place. XRP's breaking of the psychological $1 level is viewed as a strong bullish signal.

If the bullish momentum sustains and a sustained breach of the $1.27 level is achieved, XRP may face resistance near $1.50 and $2. However, a retracement is possible if profit-taking occurs.

If XRP price falls, support is expected to be at $1 in the intermediate term.