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Crypto Coins Retreat as XRP Hangover Proves to Be Painful

XRP, the digital currency that’s 60% owned by Ripple Labs, is going through a rough hangover following its wild week of gains.

Crypto Coins Retreat as XRP Hangover Proves to Be Painful
The symbols of Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies sit displayed on a screen during the Crypto Investor Show in London, U.K. (Photographer: Mary Turner/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- XRP, the digital currency that’s around 60 percent owned by Ripple Labs Inc., is going through a rough hangover following its wild week of gains.

The token, commonly referred to as as Ripple, fell as much as 17 percent to 44 cents Tuesday after nearly doubling in value last week, and has dropped back below Ether as the third-largest cryptocurrency following a brief stint at number two in CoinMarketCap.com listings.

Crypto Coins Retreat as XRP Hangover Proves to Be Painful

While traders haven’t pointed to any particular reason for the pullback, the decline follows a Wall Street Journal report on Monday that Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, who owns billions of dollars worth of XRP, has been ramping up sales of his holdings.

Other cryptocurrencies followed in XRP’s footsteps. Ether sunk as much as 13 percent to about $204 apiece, while Bitcoin dropped 4.5 percent to around $6,330.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lily Katz in New York at lkatz31@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, ;Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Joanna Ossinger

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