Well, the past week had some exciting developments to offer, at least in certain segments of the market. The broader capitalization barely increased by around $5 billion, currently standing shy of $1.2 trillion. This came on the back of a relatively flat performance of major cryptocurrencies, but some altcoins managed to surprise. Let’s dive in.

It’s been a back-and-forth with Bitcoin this week. The cryptocurrency was trading at around $26,500 this time last week and managed to increase to around $27,500 a few days later. It plunged back below $27K, only to test $27,500 again on Thursday. The bears weren’t having it, though, and made another decisive swing down, putting BTC’s price where it’s currently trading at around $26,800, booking a slight increase of 1.3%.

Ethereum is also trading for a 2% increase on the weekly, followed by Cardano (ADA), MATIC, DOT, and TRX – all of which managed to book similar gains.

But that’s where things get more exciting.

Ripple’s XRP increased by around 8% in the past seven days, positioning it as the clear leader within the top 10 cryptocurrencies by means of total market cap. The reasons are probably two-fold. The judge presiding over the case against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled against the agency’s motion to seal a certain record of former director Bill Hinman. Investors perceived this as bullish for XRP as it might have a positive impact on the outcome of the case. Ripple also entered a deal to acquire Metaco – a Swiss-based crypto custodian, for $250 million.