XRP (XRP-USD), the native crypto token of XRP Ledger, was the winner of the digital asset market on Monday, rallying as much as 21% into the day as it became the world's third largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

The amount of money flowing in pushed the coin's market cap to $142bn, outstripping stablecoin Tether’s (USDT-USD) $134.5bn. It now only sits behind bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) in terms of market cap.

Over the past month the price of XRP has pumped almost 350% as traders look to a more favourable regulatory environment when president-elect Donald Trump takes office on 20 January. XRP has been the subject of a court case directed at Ripple, in which the Securities and Exchange Commission argued that XRP is an unregistered security.

Ripple is a payment platform which uses XRP to facilitate transactions between financial institutions, businesses, and organisations.

Fox reported on Friday that Ripple is also close to getting approval from New York's crypto regulator for its own stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. The move would give Ripple customers an alternative to XRP, which has been historically volatile.

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Trump's administration has said it will look to loosen the regulatory reins on crypto when he takes office, with the installation of a new SEC boss to replace Gary Gensler. The president-elect has also said the new government will look at implementing a bitcoin stockpile in the US.

Elsewhere, bitcoin's price dipped by 2% to just below $95,000. Watchers of the world's largest cryptocurrency have been placing bets on when it will hit the elusive $100,000 mark, as its rally has lost steam in recent weeks. For the year-to-date bitcoin has risen around 114%.

"This ongoing bull run underscores a critical inflection point for cryptocurrencies," said Tom Kiddle, co-founder of Palisade. "For BTC, regulatory clarity and macroeconomic factors are driving speculative interest, while XRP showcases the power of utility-driven growth.

"The XRPL ecosystem advancements, particularly with RLUSD, highlight the growing significance of stablecoins and the evolution of blockchain technology in traditional finance."

Ethereum's price also fell, dipping around 3% by late-morning in London to around $3,579.

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