Crypto Market Hits $786 Billion All-Time High as XRP Overtakes Ethereum for Second Place

January 6, 2018 marked what would prove to be the absolute peak of the great crypto bull run. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization reached an unprecedented $786 billion, a figure that would not be seen again for nearly three years. But the headline of the day wasn’t Bitcoin — it was Ripple’s XRP, which surged past Ethereum to claim the position of the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency.

TL;DR

• Total crypto market cap reaches all-time high of $786 billion on January 6, 2018
• XRP surges to $3.09, overtaking Ethereum with a $119.9 billion market cap
• Bitcoin holds steady at $17,527 but shows signs of cooling after December’s run to nearly $20,000
• Ethereum crosses the historic $1,000 milestone, trading at $1,042
• Altcoins rally massively: Litecoin +16.6%, Dogecoin +29.5%, Zcash +26.3% in a single day
• Ripple CEO Chris Larsen briefly becomes one of the wealthiest people in tech

XRP’s Historic Surge

The most remarkable story of January 6 was undoubtedly Ripple’s XRP. The token had surged an astonishing 1,135% in just one month, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, pushing its price to $3.09 and its market capitalization to nearly $120 billion. This extraordinary rally dethroned Ethereum from the number two spot — a position ETH had held for most of its existence.

The surge was fueled by a combination of genuine adoption news and rampant speculation. Ripple had signed partnerships with major financial institutions including MoneyGram and several Asian banks, leading investors to believe that XRP was on the verge of becoming the backbone of global cross-border payments. The narrative was powerful enough to overcome persistent concerns about XRP’s centralized nature and the fact that Ripple Labs controlled the vast majority of tokens in escrow.

At XRP’s peak valuation, Ripple co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen briefly became wealthier than Mark Zuckerberg, with a personal cryptocurrency fortune estimated at over $20 billion — making him one of the richest people on the planet, at least on paper.

Bitcoin Consolidates Near Highs

While XRP stole the spotlight, Bitcoin was far from quiet. The original cryptocurrency was trading at $17,527 on January 6, according to CoinMarketCap data, down slightly from its all-time high of nearly $20,000 reached in mid-December 2017. But the modest pullback masked underlying turbulence.

Kraken’s daily market report showed Bitcoin trading volume of $120 million on the exchange, with the price down 0.53% for the day. This relative calm compared to the explosive altcoin action was interpreted by some analysts as a sign that capital was rotating from Bitcoin into smaller cryptocurrencies — a classic late-stage bull market signal that historically preceded major corrections.

The Bitcoin dominance index was declining rapidly, dropping below 33% as altcoins captured an increasingly large share of the market. This compression of Bitcoin’s market share would prove to be one of the defining characteristics of the January 2018 peak.

The Altcoin Frenzy

If XRP’s rise was the main event, the broader altcoin market was the undercard — and in many ways, it was even more explosive. Kraken’s January 6 trading data painted a picture of unbridled speculative mania:

• Dogecoin (DOGE): +29.5% to $0.015 — the meme coin was proving it had real staying power
• Zcash (ZEC): +26.3% to $668 — privacy coins were in high demand
• Litecoin (LTC): +16.6% to $285 — Charlie Lee’s silver to Bitcoin’s gold was surging
• Stellar (XLM): +12.9% to $0.76 — riding the same payments narrative as Ripple
• EOS: +13.5% to $9.76
• Ethereum Classic (ETC): +8.67% to $34.72

Total trading volume on Kraken alone reached $472 million for the day — a staggering figure for a single exchange. Across all markets, the 24-hour trading volume for XRP alone exceeded $2.78 billion, while Ethereum saw $4.66 billion in volume and Bitcoin recorded $18.3 billion globally.

Ethereum Crosses $1,000

Amidst the XRP euphoria, Ethereum quietly crossed a major psychological milestone of its own. ETH was trading at $1,042 on January 6, up 5.02% for the day and 44.53% for the week. Ethereum’s market cap stood at $100.9 billion, making it the third-largest cryptocurrency — a ranking many observers assumed would be temporary.

The Ethereum rally was driven by the explosive growth of initial coin offerings (ICOs), which had raised billions of dollars in 2017 using the Ethereum blockchain as their primary platform. The demand for ETH to participate in ICOs created a powerful feedback loop that pushed prices higher, even as concerns grew about the sustainability of the ICO model.

The Top 5 on January 6, 2018

The CoinMarketCap snapshot for January 6, 2018 reveals a market landscape that looked very different from anything seen before or since:

1. Bitcoin (BTC): $17,527 — Market cap: $294.2 billion
2. XRP: $3.09 — Market cap: $119.9 billion
3. Ethereum (ETH): $1,042 — Market cap: $100.9 billion
4. Bitcoin Cash (BCH): $2,787 — Market cap: $47.1 billion
5. Cardano (ADA): $1.03 — Market cap: $26.6 billion

Litecoin rounded out the top six at $296 with a $16.2 billion market cap. The total market had grown by roughly 33% in just the past week, a rate of expansion that even the most bullish participants acknowledged was unsustainable.

Why This Matters

January 6, 2018 would prove to be the absolute peak of the 2017-2018 crypto bubble. Within a month, the market would begin a devastating crash that would wipe out approximately 65% of total value by February 6 — an event now known as the “Great Crypto Crash.” Bitcoin would fall below $7,000, XRP would lose over 80% of its value, and the ICO market would collapse almost entirely. The $786 billion market cap wouldn’t be surpassed until late 2020, when Bitcoin’s institutional adoption narrative began driving a new, more sustainable bull run. The lessons of January 6 — about speculative mania, market rotation, and the dangers of confusing short-term price action with long-term value creation — remain relevant to this day.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.