The current crypto market uptick has pushed Ripple’s XRP market capitalization beyond $20 billion for the first time since September 2022, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Over the last 24 hours, XRP grew by 4.14% to $0.4096 as of press time. The positive price movement has seen its market cap rise to as high as $21.11 billion from a low of $19.65 billion — this indicates that the crypto coin added over $1 billion to its market cap during the reporting period.

Ripple CTO Says XRP is a “Commodity”

Ripple’s chief technology officer David Schwartz tweeted that XRP fits the definition of a commodity on Jan. 20. Schwartz said:

“XRP is a raw good that trades in commerce and one XRP is treated as equivalent to every other XRP.”

He noted that this was “pretty much the definition of a commodity.” He added that no part of the coin’s value “comes from anyone else’s legal obligations to XRP holders.”

Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been engaged in a legal tussle over whether XRP was sold as an unregistered security. In a recent interview, the crypto company CEO Brad Garlinghouse poured cold water on the possibility of the firm settling with the SEC.

According to Garlinhouse, a settlement would only occur if the regulator agreed that XRP was not sold as a security. Another top executive at Ripple, Stuart Alderoty, tweeted that the case’s outcome would broadly affect the U.S. crypto space.