YouTube / Ripple

Ripple, a cryptocurrency designed for banks and global money transfers, has more than doubled in price since Monday, overtaking Litecoin as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. It now has a market cap of $18.64 billion.

The boom has largely coincided with gains in bitcoin and other smaller cryptocurrencies, which have been on a tear since the launch of Bitcoin futures trading by Cboe Global Markets on Sunday.

"I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider Wednesday morning. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential, but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise."

Litecoin has been shoved to fifth place in terms of cryptocurrency market cap, according to coinmarketcap.com.It has gained 122% this week.

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