Solana overtook XRP to become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency on the crypto market on Dec. 20, based on current data.

As of 11:30 p.m. UTC, Solana (SOL) reported a market cap of $34.8 billion. XRP, a coin associated with Ripple, reported a market cap of $33.3 billion.

Solana’s high market standing appears to be due to its own exceptional performance rather than XRP losses. XRP was up just 1.67% over 24 hours, closely in line with market-wide average gains of 2.8%. SOL, by contrast, far outperformed the average by gaining 12.08% over 24 hours.

At the time of writing, SOL and XRP were priced at $81.45 and $0.62, respectively. The difference between each asset’s price is the result of token denomination and, unlike market cap, does not reflect each asset’s relative standing.

SOL has gradually risen since October

The reasons for Solana’s latest price gains are unclear, though it seems that this builds on long-standing growth. The price of SOL has been gradually rising since at least October, meaning that notable events such as the launch of Solana’s GameShift suite, FTX estate transfers involving the SOL token, and hype around the Solana-based BONK memecoin have all coincided with its recent growth.

On-chain activity rather than public events may also contribute to growth. Recent reports indicate, for example, that Solana decentralized exchanges recently outperformed their Ethereum-based counterparts in trading volume.

In contrast to previous negative perceptions, Solana recently experienced a victory with its Saga phone. Despite poor sales for most of 20203, it has since sold out in the U.S. after the explosion of the Solana-based BONK memecoin.

SOL also experienced sudden losses in November 2022 when FTX, with which it was closely associated, collapsed. Though these events have not prevented SOL’s overall growth, they may have had some effect on price regardless.