As its Asian affiliate completes its registration to be a substitute agent for electronic settlement on Wednesday Sept. 26, Ripple’s market cap briefly soared surpassing Ethereum’s to occupy the second position for a while.

XRP’s market cap tests Ethereum’s briefly on Wednesday

The new registration now makes it possible for SBI Ripple Asia (SRA) to conduct new businesses such as electronic payment in Japan. According to a translated release, it can also act as “a substitution business” that can use its open API to obtain and use certain information about depositors such as account balance, usage history and transfer orders from one bank to another.

The SBI news coincides with Ripple’s quick and short-lived ride to the second spot on the same day. Its market rose to about $22.6 bln to push Ethereum lower. The spike shows that a lot has happened to the market cap of Ethereum since the beginning of 2018.

Ethereum surpassed the likes of Ripple (XRP) in capitalization in 2016 and has since maintained the spot up till now. Even as at the start of the month of September, Ethereum’s cap was more than doubled Ripple’s. But the decreasing value of its asset, Ether (ETH), coupled with the overall bearish state of the entire crypto market, the Vitalik Buterin-led project was a good match for Ripple’s bull run.

While the sharp rise lasts, Ripple’s value moved back and forth between holding steady and climbing higher. The sudden price movement comes as the cryptocurrency’s community expects xRapid, a cross-border payment solution on a real-time and low-cost basis, to become operational. Their flagship Swell event coming up between Oct. 1 and 2 is also near. With former US President, Bill Clinton, as keynote speaker and several tech industry figures expected including an IMF official, the road of XRP’s price movement could remain bumpy in the next few days.